Stakeholders Urge Upscale In Modular Refineries’ Activities … Task FG To Subsidise License By 70%

Stakeholders in the management of oil and gas have stressed the need to scale up the activities of the modular/artisanal refineries in the Niger Delta for more economic benefit to the country.
The stakeholders also harped on the need for the Federal Government to consider the subsidisation of modular/artisanal refinery license by 70percent in order to allow artisanal operators to acquire these licenses.
These were part of the resolutions reached at the end of the second stakeholders’ engagement on integration of modular/artisanal refinery operations convened by the Office of the Presidency through the Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang in Abuja.
Addressing the gathering, yesterday, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Ita Enang explained that the aim of the meeting was to discuss ways out of the country’s present oil challenge.
Enang stated further that the gathering was also focusing on the review of the causes of losses of revenue from oil due to irregular activities in the creeks and along oil pipelines and the effect it had on the nation’s economy.
According to him, the world is faced with an energy crisis, and all the nations of the world are now looking to internal sources of solving their problems and Nigeria is not left out.
“Domestic refining which we call artisanal refining is part of the internal sources of solving these problems, but these refined products are going into our generators, going into our systems, and we still call it illegal refining.
“But we are driving our cars with it and we still call it illegal refining, people are feeding from it and we still call it illegal artisanal refining”.
Enang said it was high time for the country to regularise the artisanal refined products for the purpose of saving the nation’s economy.
“It is time for us to meet and regularize it for the purpose of saving the economy,” Enang said.
In his remark, Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Prof. Akpofure Rim-Ruke, who welcomed the idea of the forum, said it would salvage the challenge of fuel crises and loss of revenue.
According to him, the youths are using the local process of producing local gin to produce the fuel which is the local technology that works.
“Having this at the back of our mind to see that the products they have produced, Federal University of Petroleum Resources has tested the products and it is actually in line in terms of specificity with others that are imported into this country, so the technology is working.”
On the way forward, he said the institution had developed an indigenous modular refinery and it was already on ground the authority of and that the institution has all it takes to train the youths on it.
On his own, executive secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), assured the stakeholders of the agency’s support to the full operation of modular refineries in the country.
According to him, the project is a passionate one not only for the oil sector but for the entire nation for a way out of the fuel crises and loss of the nation’s revenue.
A communique issued at the end of the meeting read in part: “Scale up the activities of the modular/artisanal refineries in the Niger Delta for more economic benefit to the country.
“Government should take inventory of the domestic modular/artisanal refinery operators and send them to the Federal University of Petroleum, Effurun (FUPRE) for further training.
“Need for formalisation of the modular/artisanal refinery operators in Nigeria.
“Subsidisation of modular/artisanal refinery license by 70percent in order to allow artisanal operators to acquire these licenses.
“Curb the activities of the security personnel involved in illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta
“Need for continuous interface between the Federal Government and the operators of modular/artisanal refineries in the country to assist the government in curbing cases of illegal bunkering
“The government should minimize their threats in order to allow artisanal operators to come out to engage more with the government.
“Opening up of the petroleum industry process to allow for more participation, including the modular/artisanal operators.
“Approve the implementation of the recommendations from the first stakeholders’ engagement.
“The Federal Government should approve the formation of the Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI).
“Foreign Technical Partners who are willing to invest in the oil industry in the country should be encouraged to partner with the artisanal operators with the involvement of the communities.
“The Federal Government through the Amnesty Programme has trained a lot of engineers, welders and fabricators hence should be included when the modular/artisanal refineries would be set up/formalised.
“Emphasis must be placed on the safety of the people of the Niger Delta in the operations of the modular/artisanal refineries.”