Wabote: Nigeria on Course for 1.5mbpd Combined Crude Oil Refining Capacity by 2025

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

With all the investments taking place in the downstream petroleum sector, Nigeria could be on its way to hitting an in-country refining capacity of about 1.5 million barrels per day by 2025, the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote, has said.

Wabote gave the assessment while delivering a keynote address at the 3rd Biennial International Conference on Hydrocarbon Science and Technology, organised by the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) in Abuja.

The programme was themed: “The Future of the Oil and Gas Industry: Opportunities, Challenges, and Development.”

The executive secretary identified the industry’s positive trends to include the growth of oil reserves, gas production, gas utilisation, local refining and skills acquisition.

He noting that all these portend great opportunities for the future of the oil and gas industry in the country.

To him,  the manifestation of these trends and projections could lead to Nigeria achieving zero crude oil export and becoming a gas-powered economy, which will lead to the socio-economic development of the nation by 2025.

Achieving zero crude oil export, he said, would mean that Nigeria fully refines all the oil produced from its fields and exports excess refined products.

He noted that the impact on in-country value addition will be massive on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria.

If all plans go well, Wabote explained Nigeria would meet the target in view of the various refining investments such as the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote refinery and the Bua group refinery project.

He also listed the Waltersmith modular refinery, Duport Midstream refinery, OPAC Refinery, Edo Refinery, Aradel Holdings refinery as well as the existing 445,000 barrels per day capacity from the Kaduna, Warri, and Port Harcourt refineries as some of the projects that would help Nigeria hit the 1.5 million bpd refining target.

“The realisation of these projects would culminate in Nigeria achieving a combined refining capacity of approximately 1.5 million barrels per day by 2025,” he added.

According to him, the Nigerian oil and gas industry is growing steadily across several fronts, despite reduced investments due to the global quest for cleaner energy and divestments of some onshore and shallow assets by a few international oil companies.

Dwelling on the growth trends in gas, the executive secretary stated that Nigeria’s proven gas reserves stand at 208.83 TCF, although the nation’s gas production had dropped from an average of 4.8 billion standard cubic feet per day in 2020 to 4.3bscf/day in 2022.

He stated that the renewed focus on gas production and utilisation of gas within the declared Decade of Gas programme, coupled with the various upstream and midstream gas development projects would turn the tide.

Wabote noted that this could lead to a 50 per cent increase in the volume of gas that will be produced and utilised in-country.

Some of the gas projects on the cards, he said, include H-block gas development projects, NLNG Train 7 project, UTM Offshore Limited’s Floating LNG project, and other mini-LNG and CNG projects.

This envisioned outcome, he said, would lead to the nationwide adoption of gas for power generation and domestic cooking.

According to him, this could also be deployed in autogas as well as utilisation in methanol, fertiliser production, and other industrial applications, with Nigeria harnessing the vast potential of its natural gas reserves.