FG: Rehabilitation of 43-year-old Kaduna Refinery to Be Completed Q4 Next Year

*Kyari to appear before Senate this week over 60% frontier acreages funds

*Inspects Kano AKK gas project, says 2024 completion target feasible 

Emmanuel Addeh, Sunday Aborisade in Abuja and Ahmad Sorondinki in Kano.

The federal government has said the rehabilitation of the 110,000 barrels per day Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemicals Company Limited (KRPC) would be completed between October and December next year.

A statement by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), quoted that Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, as having made the remark during an inspection tour of the plant at the weekend.

This was just as it emerged that the Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Mele Kyari, would be expected to appear before the Senate Committee on Gas Resources this week over the management of the 60 per cent Frontier Acreages Funds.
Lokpobiri, revealed that the ongoing quick-fix project would see the 43-year-old facility begin production by the end of 2024, stressing that the optimistic projection was based on the current level of work.

In February this year, the NNPC signed a contract worth $740.6 million with South Korean firm, Daewoo E&C for the repairs of Kaduna Refinery, expected to restore the refinery to 60 per cent of its 110,000 barrels per day name plate.
At the time, the NNPC said it would be funding the contract using a combination of internally generated revenue and third party financing, explaining that the quick-fix strategy guaranteed the fastest route to re-streaming the refinery.

Commissioned in 1980 to supply petroleum products to Northern Nigeria, the refinery with an initial capacity of 50,000 barrels per day was expanded to 100,000 barrels per day in 1983, with an additional 50,000 bpd crude train for the production of lubricating oils.

Also in 1986, the capacity of the first crude train was expanded to 60,000 BPD to increase the actual crude oil refining nameplate capacity of to 110,000 bpd.
But while assessing the progress of work on the ongoing project at the weekend, Lokpobiri, said he was confident that the refinery would be re-streamed by the end of 2024, considering the, “significant level of progress” he witnessed on the tour.

He vowed to continue to hold key players involved in the rehabilitation process of the nation’s refineries accountable and pledge government’s support in ensuring the timely delivery of the project.
According to the minister, there was an urgent need to get the refinery back on stream for the nation’s economic prosperity and energy security, which are both paths to sustainable development.

Earlier in his remarks, Kyari, reassured the minister that the fuel plant at the refinery would be delivered by the end of 2024.
Kyari, said all hands were on the deck to bring the refinery back on stream, stressing that the contractor had since been mobilised to the site and the needed equipment for the quick-fix activities were already in place.

“We are very confident that we will get the appropriate financing to get to the end of it, and ultimately, we will start to deliver value to Nigerians again.
“We plan the quick-fix for 60,000 barrels per day so that we can start making money from this plant and we can continue the other part of the refinery to bring it up to its full-fledged capacity.
“This will also tally with the completion of the Build, Operate, and Transfer (BOT) on the pipeline so as to have a reliable pipeline delivery infrastructure,” the GCEO stated.

Kyari, was represented on the inspection visit by the Executive Vice President of Gas, power and New Energy of the Company, Olalekan Ogunleye.
He added: “We are here for an on-the-spot examination of the progress of this project and to commend the entire team for the sterling safety performance. We encourage you to prioritise safety and more importantly to demonstrate the new mantra of NNPCL.

“The message of Mr. President and the leadership of NNPCL is clear. We must focus on effective delivery, quality, and performance, as more prosperity is on the way to Nigeria. All of us must align to ensure that this project ends by 2024.” he stated.

Kyari stressed “We must step up on our teamwork and collaboration to ensure we deliver on this critical and economic enhancement program for Nigeria.”
He said, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had given a matching order to ensure completion of the project as scheduled, adding that, apart from creating more economic prosperity for Nigerians, most of the ailing industries would be revived.
On the Kano segment of the AKK project, especially, the Hadejia River crossing site at Tambuwa Zaria road in Kano, the NNPCL boss explained that the project was currently at 55 percent to be delivered.

The inspection tour, which was preceded by the 14th Refineries Rehabilitation Steering Committee Meeting, also had in attendance NNPC’s Executive Vice President, Downstream, Adedapo Segun; Executive Vice President, Upstream, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan; Managing Directors of the three refineries; and a host of other members of the committee.

Meanwhile, Kyari, is expected to appear before the Senate Committee on Gas Resources this week over the management of the 60 per cent Frontier Acreages Funds.

The Chairman of the Senate panel, Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe, had last Thursday, summoned Kyari after he met with the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe, and his team, over the matter, behind closed doors.

Jarigbe, told journalists after the meeting that NUPRC team explained the challenges they were faced with the 60 per cent of the frontier acreages funds.

He said, “We received a briefing from the CEO of NUPRC and his team on the activities of the agency.  Section 9 subsection 4 and 5 provides that the NUPRC should have a Frontier Acreages an escrow account for the exploration and development of frontier acreages and that fund is subject to the approval of the National Assembly.

“Also, section 22 subsection 1 of the Petroleum Industrial Act also provides that the National Assembly oversights the budget and expenditure of the NUPRC.

“So, we had to interact with the commission on those issues and we discovered that there is no fund raised from 30 per cent oil profit and 30 per cent gas profit as provided for in Section 9 subsection 4 of the PIA.

“So, we also intend to engage with the NNPCL on that and that is why we have invited the management team for a briefing on the matter.

“We don’t know the budget because we weren’t given any figure. We will get details on that and get back to the Senate in plenary,” he said.

Frontier acreages refers to any or all licences or leases located in an area defined as frontier in the Petroleum Industry Act.

The PIA introduced the Frontier Exploration Fund to support exploration and development in Nigeria’s frontier acreages

These areas include regions like Anambra, Dahomey, Bida, Sokoto, Chad, and Benue where hydrocarbon exploration is yet to occur or remains undeveloped.

The PIA further states that the Fund, constituting 30 per cent of NNPC’s “profit oil and profit gas” from various contracts, will finance exploration and development activities in the frontier acreages.

In the meantime, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Water Resources, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, has said the 10th Senate would not force any unpopular bill on Nigerians.

He stated this while reacting to journalists’ questions on whether the water resources bill that was thrown out in the ninth National Assembly would resurface in the 10th Senate.

Yari, pledged that the Senate would scrutinise any bill before introducing it for legislative actions.

He said, “I have not seen a copy of the water resources bill that was rejected in the 9th Assembly.

“This is a democracy, no matter what our intentions are, we have to listen to the yearnings of our people in terms of the bills that we propose and the oversight actions that we take.

The former governor of Zamfara State, who is serving his first term in the upper chamber of Nigeria’s National Assembly, called for closer collaboration between the legislative and executive branches of government to provide all 200 million Nigerians with clean drinking water and access to water for sanitation and hygiene.

He said, “We are all aware that water is life, and it is the responsibility of the government to provide clean water for all our people.

“At the same time, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that we harness the vast potential of water in energy production, irrigation for agriculture, and transportation.”