Tag Archives: REFINERY

Kaduna refinery loses N2.2bn annually to ‘illegal water tapping’ – NNPC

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says its subsidiary, ?Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC), loses about N2.2 billion annually ?to illegal tapping of its raw water pipeline.

Ndu Ughamadu, group general manager, group public affairs division of the organisation, said this in a statement released on Thursday.?

Ughamadu said the raw water pipeline that runs from Kaduna river generates power for the running of the refinery, serves as coolants for equipment and combats fire outbreaks.
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“Sequel to the series of tapping, the refinery now spends more on diesel and other material inputs in the maintenance of its generators and other equipment,” he said.
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He said Idi Mukhtar, KRPC managing director, lamented that the consumption of the water by settlers who encroached on the company’s premises was an unnecessary, additional burden to the refinery’s industrial requirements.

?He added that the encroachment slows down the build-up rate of water in the reserve tanks, which endangers the refinery as “the plant is expected to maintain a minimum level of water requirement that is considered safe for operations”.

“The illegal acts are committed mostly in Janruwa, Kamazo, Namaigero and Mahuta areas of Kaduna metropolis, which are the communities along the raw water intake pipeline right of way,” he said.

“We need to put more effort to meet our industrial requirements because of the incidents of illegal tapping of our water pipeline.”

?He explained that Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Authority and Kaduna State Water Board had been contacted to address the issues of land encroachment on KRPC Right of Way.
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Ughamadu advised illegal tappers of the refinery’s raw water pipeline to desist from the act, saying the raw water was not fit for human consumption because it was untreated.
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“The daily rate of loading is massive; even, on Sundays products are being loaded to meet the growing demand in the country,” he said.

 

Source:

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/02/kaduna-refinery-loses-n2-2bn-water-pipeline-vandals-nnpc/

 

Nigeria Targets 2.6 million Barrels Per Day Refining Capacity

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Nigeria may be on the path to becoming self-sufficient in the production of petroleum products, as the Federal Government expects to increase the country’s refining capacity from 445,000 barrels per day to 2.62 million barrels per day.

To achieve this, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), has granted licences to 22 private firms to establish refineries, which are expected to produce 1.97 million barrels per day in the short, medium and long period.

If these refineries come on stream, the country is expected to save over $15 billion yearly from the importation of petroleum products, create jobs and meet the needs of industrial firms, which depend on by-products from refineries.

Already, nine companies have submitted bids for co-location of new refineries within the complexes of Nigeria’s three existing refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt, which are expected to increase the nation’s refining capacity from 445,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 650,000bpd.DPR, in its yearly report on the oil and gas sector stated that the Federal Government hoped to achieve 50 per cent domestic refining capacity by 2020, through a combined policy of deregulation and rehabilitation of aging plants.

According to the agency, in line with this aspiration, DPR has already granted 25 Licenses to Establish (LTE) and five Approvals to Construct (ATC) refineries in Nigeria to qualified companies.

It stated that one of the 25 LTE holders, Dangote Oil Refinery Company (DORC) has progressed the refinery development project to the equipment fabrication stage.

DPR said that the DORC project is due to be commissioned in 2018 and would add 500,000 BPSD to the domestic refining capacity.

The agency stated: “The modular refinery model is now emerging as a credible solution to the dismal share of domestic refineries. The model is gaining credence due to its comparatively lower establishment and running costs. Compared to bigger refinery projects, the modular solution appeals more to the marginal upstream producers desiring maximisation of assets value through local refining of produced oil.

“So far, DPR has issued 22 LTE and three ATC, respectively for modular Refineries projects. The projects have cumulative potentials to boost the domestic refinery capacity by more than 671,000BPSD on completion.”

The DPR noted that Nigerian refineries are plagued with peculiar domestic challenges and are not able to produce at sub-optimal levels partly due to the increasingly aging plants.

It added that incessant disruption of crude oil and product pipelines have posed further challenges to operations.

DPR said that there is a yawning gap between domestic demand and output from the domestic refineries, clearly underscores the need for proactive policies to bridge the gaps.

The agency noted that the continued low domestic refining capacity especially poses a peculiar policy challenge, in view of expanding local market for petroleum products.

According to the DPR, growing the domestic refining capacity would reduce the dependence on foreign products, boost local content, generate new jobs and develop requisite competencies in the ancillary sectors. “It would also free the foreign exchange market from undue demand pressures of petroleum products imports,” it added.

The agency said the future of the domestic refinery sector would be greatly improved through policy consistency, secured crude oil supplies and improved infrastructure. “Government is committed to tackling all the associated challenges facing the effective development of the domestic refinery sub-sector by promoting the business-friendly environment that is capable of driving the growth that will ensure the emergence of Nigeria as a refining hub in Africa,” it added.

The Director-General of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Muda Yusuf urged the Federal Government to liberalise the downstream petroleum sector for unfettered private sector participation and investment, while ensuring that the refineries are operated as commercial business entities.He said the approach should be subjected to appropriate regulatory framework that defines the role of NNPC, while a model that would allow for a level playing field for all operators including the NNPC should be adopted.

“We have concerns over lack of clarity on the deregulation and liberalization of the sector. This policy lacuna has put many investments in the sector at risk; while many other investment decisions have been put on hold.

Dangote’s refinery will make Nigeria’s worthless – Kachikwu

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The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said Nigeria’s four refineries my become worthless once the refinery being built by the Dangote group begins operation in 2019.

 

Kachikwu said this at a stakeholders’ consultative forum on the draft National Gas Policy and National Oil Policy in Abuja on Thursday.

 

The minister said the country’s refineries must be revamped within the shortest possible time to avoid such occurrence.

 

He said, “Refineries will have to work. It is really not an option anymore. And not only should they work, they have to work very quickly. The reality is that if we do not privatise and we do not concede them, which is not what we are doing now, then we have a responsibility to find private capital to get them to where they should be.

 

“This is because if we do not get them to work, in 2019, I can assure you that if the Dangote system works well, we will have scrap, we won’t have refineries, because by then it will be too late to do anything.”

 

Kachikwu also spoke on the deregulation of the downstream oil sector.

 

He said, “At every given time in the history of every country, you will always have partial deregulation. The reason being that you have to catch up each time and make an amendment, and even if it is just one day, you may have some level of subsidy for that one or two days before it is removed.

 

“What is important is the goal post, where are we headed? Where we are headed is to try and free the industry so that it can do its own rules and set its own prices. There are few mechanics that we still need to get in place properly. We can’t forget the fact that we still have foreign exchange challenges and that income to the government is still very tight.”

Ahmadu Bello University builds 1-barrel-per-day oil refinery

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The Department of Chemical Engineering of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has established a refinery with capacity to process one barrel of crude oil per day.
The team leader of the project, Professor Ibrahim Ali Muhammad Dabo told our correspondent who visited the refinery site that at present the refinery would be used mainly for the training of students, although the department had the manpower to build a refinery that would be bigger than that of Kaduna if it had government support.
“The initial idea was to construct a 1,000 barrel-capacity refinery, but lack of funding limited us to this one, where we would now be refining one barrel per day,” Dabo said, adding that more than 80 per cent of the materials used for the construction of the refinery were sourced locally.
“Only the controls were sourced from Hong Kong. No expatriate was hired from abroad. All those that were engaged in this project are Nigerians. Therefore, this mini refinery is a product of Nigerian brains. If government can come in, we have the ability to do wonderful things, not only refinery.
This is our training and it is what our department is meant for,” he said.
He explained that beside the land and fencing that ABU provided, the project cost only about N20 million.
Professor Dabo further stated that the idea of the mini refinery was conceived about 15 years back, but work commenced fully in the year 2011.

Dangote Refinery To Start Operation In 2018

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Dangote Group said its 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery currently under construction in Lagos would come on stream by the end of 2018.

The group’s Executive Director, Stakeholders’ Relations/Corporate Communications,  Alhaji Ahmed Mansur , announced this during a media parley in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said this would ultimately end fuel importation.

He said the refinery’s daily production capacity would be 150 per cent of the current total demand of petroleum products in the country, saying that the excess would be exported to other countries.

Mansur said a 1.3 million metric tonnes per annum petrochemical plant was also under construction at the refinery site in Lekki area of Lagos .

In addition , he said that a fertiliser company with capacity to produce 2.8 million metric tonnes of assorted fertilisers was also being added to help the country to achieve food security.

Mansur disclosed that the company had also diversified into gas business as it had started constructing a gas pipeline from the South East to Lagos.

He said that the gas plant, when completed, would have the capacity to produce three million standard cubic metres of gas per annum.

The executive director said the project would help the country to record appreciable improvement in power and manufacturing sectors.

According to him, the company’s huge investment in the oil and gas sector will impact positively in the economy, especially in the areas of employment and preservation of foreign exchange .

Credit: NAN

NSCDC Destroys 15 Illegal Refineries, Arrests 50 Vandals

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The commandant-general, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu, has said that the corps destroyed about another 15 illegal refineries and dumps in Rivers State and arrested 50 vandals.

Muhammadu who stated that this additional 15 illegal refinery brings the total figure of destroyed refineries in the state, under his watch, to 450.

He commended the effort of his men and officers nationwide, saying that the pro-activeness of the corps’ anti-vandal squad in the Niger-Delta area and other oil communities, based on intelligence report, aided in the clamping down of the illegal activities of the suspects and brought about the feat.

Fielding questions from some select journalists yesterday in Abuja, Muhammadu revealed that plans to deploy 5,000 armed officers to guard about 300 cattle ranches to be established by the federal government nationwide have been concluded.

He revealed that they have established a control center at the national headquarters that monitors pipelines in the South-South region of the country and have made very impressive arrests.

The NSCDC boss explained that as a leading agency in the protection of national assets, they are bent of meeting up with the various requests from the minister of solid minerals resources and Ministry of Agriculture, both requesting for 5,000 men as well as requests from Water Resources, Railway Corporation, and many others.

He said that 2,500 officers have so far been deployed to provide security in areas liberated in the North East.

Responding to allegations of corruption in the corps, Muhammadu dismissed the claims, insisting that he was operating a very transparent open door policy.

Ogun State Signs Agreement To Build Africa’s Second Largest Refinery

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The Ogun State Government, on Wednesday, signed an agreement with a consortium of four private companies to build the second largest refinery in sub-Saharan Africa and the largest petroleum product depot in Nigeria.

The Chairman, Petrolex Group, Mr. Segun Adebutu who led other partners in the consortium to the office of the Ogun State Governor for the agreement signing ceremony, said the two projects, when completed would generate not less than 2000 employment opportunities for the citizens and greatly increase the socio-economic condition of the state.

He said the refinery is situated in the Odogbolu Local Government Area of the state.
Speaking during the ceremony, Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, assured the consortium of his administration’s commitment to fully support the project.

“We have the political will and we would support the project fully. You can be rest assured that I will get involved, when necessary, in order to ensure that the project is a success,” the governor said.

Governor Amosun added that, “any government that will get it right indeed must be private sector driven.”

In this respect, Governor Amosun said Ogun State does not just want any investment but that which will truly support the dreams, goals and economic drive of the present administration in the state.

The Governor disclosed that his administration will always support people of like minds who will in turn bring positive economic development to the state.

The firms involved in the consortium include Petrolex Oil and Gas, Hyundai, Ajayi Legal Partner and Wema Bank PLC.

Adejuwon Soyinka
Senior Special Assistant (Media)
Ogun State Governor

 

 

Kaduna Refinery Shut Down Over Non-supply Of Crude Oil

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The Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) has stop production following renewed activities of Niger Delta militants.

It was gathered that the Kaduna refinery stopped production last week Tuesday over what a source attributed to lack of crude oil.

According to the source, “we have shut down production for now. We do not have crude supply, am sure it is due to the renewed militancy in the Niger Delta region.”

The source however assured that the refinery has enough Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in reserve pending when they would start getting supply of the crude.

“We will resume production as soon as we started getting crude supply from the Niger Delta. We are ready and our equipment are functional, the only problem now is the crude,” said our source.

The Refinery only resumed production late April during the fuel scarcity period.

Credit: Leadership

Warri Refinery To Resume Production In November- Kachikwu

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Recently shut Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, WRPC, will not be resuming operation any time soon, Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Emmanuel Kachikwu has disclosed. The refinery will now resume full production in the first week of November. It has the capacity to process 125, 000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Kachikwu disclosed this yesterday during facility tour of the refinery and the adjoining Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, Jetty and Depot in Warri, Delta State, According to him, the new date was to enable WRPC carry out temporary maintenance on some facilities explaining that the recent shutdown was due to problem from the Fluid Catalytic Cracking, FCC, Unit at the plant. He said: “WRPC was not shut down because of lack of crude oil supply, neither was crude oil not supply because the refinery was down…”

Read More: nationalmirroronline

Nigerian Refineries Low On Petrol Production

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Current data on refineries production in Nigeria indicate that more heavy or fuel oils (low and high fuel oil/black oil) are being produced from the four refineries than other high demand products like premium motor spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol.  The revelation comes despite assurances by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, which said last week that two of its refineries were working between 60 and 80 percent of their installed capacities.

refinery

NNPC had promised that the four refineries would be re-streamed by July end, when the turn around maintenance, TAM, of the hitherto almost comatose refineries would have been rounding up, thus, buoying high hopes for imminent relief from products scarcity in the country.

Capacity utilisation

However, status of the refineries operations as at July 31, 2015, exclusively obtained by Sweetcrude, indicate that the refineries cannot still meet the daily consumption requirement of between 40 and 42 million litres/day for petrol. For now, the Port Harcourt Refining Company, PHRC 2, is only able to produce about 39million litres of petrol, i.e. 38,906 x 1000 = 38.906 million compared with fuel oil, which is in low demand of about 49 million litres.

This is because aside from the PHRC 2, the fluid cracking catalytic units, FCCUs of the other refineries are still under rehabilitation. But succour is expected from the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, WRPC, once its FCCU has been fully rehabilitated, to produce additional 30 million plus litres, while capacity utilisation in the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, KRPC, remains nil.

KPRC only produces automotive gas oil, AGO, also known as diesel, and dual purpose kerosene, DPK, which can be used as both aviation fuel/Jet-A1 and household kerosene, HHK   Nigeria has four refineries with combined capacity of 445,000 barrels per day, bpd, comprising: PHRC 1 – 150,000bpd; PHRC 2 – 60,000bpd; KRPC – 110,000bpd; and WRPC 125,000bpd.

But current status data put the Crude Distillation Unit, CDU,capacity utilisation in the four refineries as, PHRC 2 re-streamed on July 20th -60.40 percent; PHRC 1 under rehab – nil; KPRC re-streamed July 30th – 64.4 percent; and WRPC – 62 percent.

Read more at – Vanguard

Kaduna Refinery Begins Production, To Hit 2m Litres Daily By October

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The Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company (KRPC), is now refining of about 60,000 barrels of crude per day following the rehabilitation of two of the company’s production lines.

The company said it was currently working with a target to release two million litres of petrol daily into the market by October.

The Managing Director of the company, Mr. Saidu Muhammed told THISDAY ON Friday that the company was on phased rehabilitation, with a target to hit 60 per cent of its local refining capacity, which is about 2 million litres daily, in the next few months, stating further that there is no reason why the company cannot achieve 6 million litres by early next year.

“We are doing alot at the moment to make sure that we achieve 80 per cent of refinning capacity.”

He assured that the KRPC’s production level would hit 90 per cent by the second quarter of 2016.

The company has an installed production capacity of 110,000 barrels of crude per day. The managing director said rehabilitation work on the remaining two production lines of the company would be completed by March 2016.

Freedom Online, however, quoted the Mohammed as urging the Federal Government to safeguard the oil pipeline from Warri to Kaduna from activities of vandals in order to sustain production.

According to him, vandalism remained a major threat to smooth transportation of crude to the refinery. Muhammed, therefore, advised the Federal Government to deploy military personnel to provide maximum security to pipelines in the area. The facility upgrade of the refinery, which started in October 2014 under the Jonathan administration, is to cover 18-months.

The work entails phased and simultaneous rehabilitation of all refineries in the country using in-house and locally available resources and manpower in line with the Nigerian Content Law.
It also involved the use of Original Equipment Manufacturer representatives to effect major equipment overhaul and rehabilitation.’

The KRPC boss said the resumption of production would open employment opportunities in both formal and the informal sectors as well as address the lingering fuel scarcity in the northern region.

Muhammed explained that thousands of transporters would resume lifting of the product, thereby providing employment to truck drivers and other stakeholders. According to him, the development will also boost other businesses including the banking sector.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on Wednesday announced that the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries had resumed full production after the phased rehabilitation.

NNPC operates three refineries with a combined capacity of 445,000 barrels per day (bpd). They are the 210,000bpd Port Harcourt refinery, the 125,000bpd Warri refinery and petrochemical plant, and the 110,00bpd Kaduna refinery and petrochemical plant.

The commencement of operations at the Port Harcourt and Warri plants will boost the country’s local refining output and reduce the volume of petroleum products imported into the country.

Port Harcourt And Warri Refineries Commence Preliminary Operations

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has announced that the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries have been successfully re-streamed after a nine-month rehabilitation exercise conducted by its in-house engineers and technicians.

The corporation, in a statement, noted that both plants commenced preliminary production of petroleum products after successful test-runs, adding that while PHRC was ramping up its operation to about 60 per cent of its 210,000 barrels per day capacity, WRPC production was projected to hit 80 per cent of its installed 125,000bpd capacity.

The NNPC said the Port Harcourt refinery was projected to boost the nation’s local refining capacity
with a product yield of five million litres of petrol per day, while Warri refinery would contribute 3.5 million litres of petrol.

Providing insight into the rehabilitation exercise, the NNPC noted that it had to adopt the phased rehabilitation strategy after the Original Refinery Builders, who were initially contacted for the project came up with unfavorable terms.

It said, “Though a decision was taken in 2011 to rehabilitate all the refineries using the ORB of each of the refineries, we were impelled to switch strategy after the ORBs declined participation and nominated some partners in their stead who came up with outrageously unfavorable terms.”

The NNPC stated that the nominated partners, as sole-bidders, came up with humongous price offers after two years of thorough and exhaustive scope of work definition and price negotiations.

It added that the proxies were also unwilling to provide post rehabilitation performance guarantees.

The corporation said, “The phased rehabilitation strategy which entailed phased and simultaneous rehabilitation of all the refineries using in-house and locally available resources in line with the spirit and letter of the Nigerian Content Law, also involved the use of Original Equipment Manufacturer representatives to effect major equipment overhaul and rehabilitation.”

The national oil firm said the phased rehabilitation programme, which started in October 2014 after the required funding stream was established, created a 70 per cent reduction in costs which helped largely in mitigating the financing challenges of refinery rehabilitation.

It observed that with the successful re-streaming of the PHRC and WRPC, attention has now moved to the 110,000 barrels per day Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company which was billed to come on stream soon.

In a related development, NNPC disclosed that it had successfully recovered the System 2B Pipeline which was breached last week at Arepo, Ogun State.

The corporation stated that its team of engineers, who were deployed to the scene of the incident, were able to access the pipeline after the fire was put out and commenced repair work immediately.

It said, “We wish to announce that the vital System 2B Pipeline which was breached at Arepo last week has been fixed and brought back on stream. Pumping of products through the system commenced on Monday upon successful completion of repair work over the weekend.

“We also wish to call on all those engaged in the criminal acts of pipeline sabotage and oil theft to desist in order to avoid such horrendous deaths as was witnessed in the recent incident.”

Source: Punch

Buhari Should Fix Refineries To End Scarcity – Lawmaker-Elect

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A newly elected member of the Niger House of Assembly, Malik Madaki, on Monday urged the incoming Muhammadu Buhari administration to repair the refineries in order to check the perennial scarcity of petroleum products in the country.

Madaki, who was elected to represent Bosso constituency on the platform of the APC, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

The lawmaker, who expressed concern over the scarcity of petroleum products across the country, said Nigerians were undergoing untold hardship as a result of the development.

He said the opportunity to benefit from the nation’s oil resources would continue to elude majority of Nigerians unless corruption in the sector was addressed.

Madaki alleged that a cartel involved in the oil sector was opposed to the optimum performance of the refineries.

“For allowing that to continue, there is no way we can have stable petrol, gas as well as kerosene supplies and the masses will continue to experience this hardship.

“This cartel has continually discouraged the Federal Government from putting the refineries in order.

“The president-elect must as a matter of national survival tackle this mess by ensuring that the four refineries are made to work at their optimal capacities,” Madaki said.

NAN reports that long queues have become a common sight in many filling stations due to the acute shortage of petrol across the country.