By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed that it refined 145.9 million barrels of crude oil under the Direct Sales and Direct Purchase (DSDP) scheme in one year.
This was contained in the corporation’s latest April 2021 report, which said the timeline was between March 2020 and March 2021, adding that the oil processed in foreign refineries for local consumption was valued at N2.4 trillion.
In March 2021, for instance, the oil firm said, “NNPC lifted 7,553,150 barrels of crude oil from the daily allocation for domestic utilisation translating to an average volume of 243,650 barrels of oil per day in terms of performance.
“In order to meet domestic product supply requirement for the month of March 2021, the entire 7,553,150 barrels were processed under the Direct-Sales-Direct Purchase scheme while (there was) no deliveries to the domestic refineries for processing.”
According to the report, no crude oil was delivered to any of the refineries under the NNPC’s management in the period under review as the country’s four refineries; two in Port Harcourt, one in Warri and one in Kaduna, have become moribund.
However, rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery has commenced while funding has been approved by the federal government for the revamp of Warri and Kaduna refineries.
NNPC officially signed the contract with Tecnimont SPA for the $1.5 billion rehabilitation programme of PHRC on April 6, 2021.
The then Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Mr Kennie Obateru, had said that the $1.5 billion rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refining Company would make part of the facility start delivering refined products by September next year.
“The work is progressing. We said it will be completed within 18 to 44 months when counting from April this year. By 18 months some part of the refinery will be producing. The total rehabilitation job will be completed in 44 months.
“Why we said between 18 and 44 months is the fact that it will not be at the end of 44 months before the refinery starts working, but that in 18 months some sections of the refinery will start producing,” he had said in a statement.
In explaining the DSDP, the oil firm said in compliance with the Public Procurement Act 2007 and NNPC’s Policy and Procedures, it had to engage qualified and credible companies in a Direct Sale of crude oil and Direct Purchase of petroleum products to ensure sustained product supply across the country.
The NNPC promised that the country would reach petrol sufficiency once rehabilitation of the refineries is completed, coupled with a 20 per cent equity stake in the ongoing constriction of the Dangote refinery, which is expected to come online next year.
Dipo Olowookere