President Buhari to Commission a Modular Refinery in Eastern Nigeria

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, will commission a 5,000 barrels per day (BPD) modular refinery in Ibigwe, Imo State, in the east of the country on November 24, 2020.

The facility, which will be commissioned under the chairmanship of the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, is the first of a three-phase project. It will deliver about 271Million litres of refined petroleum products (Diesel, Kerosene, Heavy Fuel Oil-HFO and Naphtha) per annum.

Promoted by Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, operator of the Ibigwe marginal oil field, the project is developed by Waltersmith Refining and Petrochemical Company, a Joint venture (JV) between Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited (70% equity) and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), with 30% equity.

It is also the first project of a planned energy-industrial park. Waltersmith, as of last February, disclosed that it had surveyed 500 hectares of land, out of which it had acquired 65 hectares of land for the park, on which it proposes to build a Power Plant. The company received an electricity generation license from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in 2017 to develop a 300MW gas fired plant(the Ugamma Gas Power Plant) to be situated in the same energy industrial complex as the refinery and the flow station in the Ibigwe field.

The power plant will utilize processed gas largely from third parties operating gas fields that are within proximity with the Ibigwe field. It will then supply this power to nearby industries as well as industries who come to locate themselves in that industrial park.

Meanwhile, the second phase of the Modular Refinery construction, a 25,000 BPD capacity will be added, while the third phase, another 20,000 BPD, is expected to bring the capacity to 50,000 BPD.

It is expected that President Buhari will be commissioning both the first phase of the refinery and breaking the ground for the 45,000BPD second and third phases of the refinery, planned to deliver about 1.4Billion litres per year of refined petroleum products (Premium Motor Spirit – PMS, Diesel, Kerosene, Aviation Jet Fuel and HFO).

SOURCE

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *