Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) may soon sell some of its stakes in the government-owned four refineries to private investors.
This was made known by the Group Managing Director of the state oil corporation, Mr Mele Kyari, during a discussion programme on Channels Television on Wednesday and monitored by Business Post.
He told Channels TV that the discussions were already in progress, adding that the new arrangement would be based on an operating model in which the state oil company would become a minority shareholder.
“We are considering a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) model of concession for the four refineries. When this is done, there will be more scrutiny of shareholders. This will make the assets more efficient to operate. That conversation is on the table at the moment,” the NNPC chief said on Politics Today with Seun Okinbaloye last night.
However, Mr Kyari did not give a specific timeline for this or give further details of the investors the federal government was talking to concerning the transfer of the four refineries. He only confirmed that at the moment, the four refineries have been shut down.
The energy expert explained that the refineries were shut down because of the proposed rehabilitation, which will most likely be done by private investors because of the shortage of funds.
Nigeria has two refineries Port Harcourt Rivers State, one in Warri Delta State and one in Kaduna State and according to Mr Kyari, these refineries have not been producing at maximum capacity despite the regular turnaround maintenance.
He said when the assets are revamped through the help of the private sector, Nigeria, which is Africa’s largest exporter of crude oil, will become one of the world’s biggest exporter of petroleum products within a three-year time frame.
The NNPC had come under scrutiny in recent months when the financial report released by NNPC showed that the refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna processed almost no crude in 13 months to June this year, even though they had an operating cost of about $367 million.
He noted that the pipelines which fed these refineries crude oil were badly damaged due to their moribund state.
