Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, has said he would hold Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) accountable on dates scheduled for completion of rehabilitation of the country’s refineries.
Lokpobiri spoke while fielding questions from reporters at the end of a three-day retreat at State House Conference Centre, Abuja. NNPCL is tasked with rehabilitating three refineries in the country to reduce fuel scarcity and increase dependence on natural gas. Despite over $25 billion expended on fixing the refineries in the past 10 years, they are producing at less than 30 per cent capacity, according to a report by the ninth National Assembly.
The Senate had constituted an ad hoc committee to investigate NNPCL over N11.35 trillion spent on Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries.
The committee was meant to interrogate the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), NNPCL, and the Bureau of Public Enterprises on the best approach to commercialising and ensuring profitability of the state-owned refineries.
He said: “Rehabilitation of the refineries, if you remember, was started by the previous administration. And as part of the President’s directive, I have gone round all the refineries. And from what they have briefed me, Port Harcourt has three phases. Phase One will be ready by the end of this year. I am not the one who is directly in charge of rehabilitation, it is NNPCL and they have told me, and I am holding them accountable.
“For the Warri refinery, they said Phase One will be ready by the end of the year. Phase Two and Three in Port Harcourt will be ready next year and the whole of Kaduna refinery will be ready by the end of next year. That is what they said and I am holding them accountable to their own words.”
