Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Mele Kyari, on Wednesday said the state-owned oil agency will no longer operate the country’s refineries after their rehabilitation.
Speaking today in an interview on Arise TV breakfast programme, The Morning Show, he said upon completion of the ongoing rehabilitation exercise, the refineries would be handed over to a private firm on an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) basis.
“We are going to get an O&M contract, NNPC won’t run it. We are going to get a firm that will guarantee that this plant would run for some time.
“We want to try a different model of getting this refinery to run. And we are going to apply this process for the running of the other two refineries”, he stated.
He explained that the plan, ultimately, is to get private partners to invest in the refineries and get them to run on the NLNG model where the shareholders would be free to decide the fate of the refineries going forward.
Mr Kyari stated that this model, which is totally different from previous approach, would guarantee the desired outcome for the refineries, which are located in Warri (Delta State), Kaduna and Port Harcourt (Rivers State).
Business Post recalls that during the build up to the 2019 general elections, candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice President of Nigeria, Mr Atiku Abubakar, had said when elected President, he would sell the refineries to private firms for better management. However, he was highly criticised for this.
Also, speaking on a Channels TV breakfast talk show, Sunrise Daily, earlier in the day, the NNPC’s helmsman said the decision to finally end the fuel subsidy regime was in the interest of ordinary Nigerians as it would free up funds for the various tiers of government to develop basic infrastructure in the education, health, transport, and other sectors for their benefit.
“Subsidy is elitist because it is the elites that benefit from it. They are the ones that have SUVs, four, five cars in their garages. The masses should be the ones to benefit. There are many things wrong with the under-recovery because it makes us to supply more than is needed.
“This makes the under-recovery to be bloated because we unwittingly subsidize fuel for the whole of West Africa. That has to stop,” the NNPC boss submitted.
He explained that the removal of subsidy would automatically correct the distortions it created in the market such as products arbitrage and smuggling, stressing that it would also provide the needed impetus for the NNPC to establish retail outlets in neighbouring countries.
On the agitation in some quarters for a reduction in the price of kerosene, he said the corporation’s focus was rather on how to migrate all those who were still using kerosene for domestic cooking to the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) which is popularly referred to as cooking gas.
According to him, apart from LPG being a cheaper fuel than kerosene, it is also safer and more environment-friendly.
He said the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, was championing policies to deepen the adoption of LPG for domestic consumption, adding that widespread adoption of LPG usage was the best solution to kerosene supply challenges in the long term.
On the situation with global crude oil price and supply, the GMD said things were shaping up.
“Crude oil price is improving by the day. Last week, it was $15 per barrel. Today, it is $32.79 per barrel. We believe the ongoing engagements between global oil producers will bring back demand and once that happens, the market will balance and fully recover by year-end”, he stated.
On the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Kyari, who put the current total donations by players in the oil and gas Industry at N21 billion, said the sector was obliged to support the federal government in its efforts to bring relief to Nigerians.
