Stakeholders Begin Enumeration Of Local Refineries

Following the proposal of the Federal Government to liberalise modular refineries , some groups in the oil-rich Niger Delta region have began enumeration of artisanal refineries and crude oil distillation camps.
Over 200 operators in crude oil distillation camps, known  in local parlance as ‘Kpo fire; have began to collate data in Bayelsa State.
Convener of the sensitization exercise, Mr Pat Obiene, said the exercise is a follow-up to the Federal Government’s new policy directive to formalize artisanal refineries.
“This is a follow-up to the pronouncement by the Federal Government on its plan to use modular refineries to fast-track development, so we thought it wise to kick-start this initiative”, he said.
Obiene, disclosed that three groups, Masses Congress, Bayelsa Business Roundtable and Refineries Business Association were collaborating on the data collation exercise to determine the total capacity of local refineries.
The convener, who is a social activist, further said that, the group has designed forms to classify the artisans into categories  such as crude point owners, loader, cooker/refiner and dumpsite owner, in order to capture data on the number of workers, daily crude volume and daily turnover.
He said, when processed, the data would be used as basis to determine the size and capacity of the proposed modular refineries suitable for each location.
The President of Bayelsa Business Roundtable, Mr Olaitari Ikemike, explained that the initiative was aimed at networking and cross fertilization of ideas among stakeholders.
According to Ikemike, “this is an effort to bring private sector people together  and work for the realization of the modular refinery concept.
“We need to be a catalyst to bring local refinery operators together and ensure our peculiarities are factored in”.
He commended the initiative of the Federal Government, saying with the support of all stakeholders, it would ensure its actualization.
In his own reaction, the Chairman, Modular Refineries Business Asociation in Baylesa State, Mr Clever Oyabara, noted that modular refineries would lay to rest the youth restiveness in the region.
“The policy will be a permanent solution to youth restiveness because a 10,000 barrels per day capacity refinery can create more than 500 direct  and indirect jobs”, he said.