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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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C'River, Edo to get new refineries
WITH a ground-breaking ceremony performed yesterday by the Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke, the Calabar Free Trade Zone may play host to the very first private refinery in the country.
It is to cost $143 million (about N20 billion). The private refinery, known as Total Support Refineries, according to its president, Mr. Ubani Nkaginieme, has a capacity for 12,000 barrels per day and would draw its crude from Exxon Mobil in Eket, Akwa Ibom State and Munipolo in Cross River State.
The refinery, he said, is a small modular one and will operate for 20 to 30 years with special focus on energy distribution. Over 1,000 workers will be engaged on the project.
His words: "We are building an export refinery. It will take two years to complete and it is a private initiative. As a capital-intensive project, partners would be drawn from Europe and America."
The choice of Calabar as location, he said, was informed by its peaceful and hospitable nature and the leadership quality of the state governor.
On environmental pollution, he said the refinery would not flare any gas or pollute the environment and when completed, it would have the capacity to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity, consuming only four megawatts.
At the ceremony, Governor Duke charged Total Support to be environment-friendly and to avoid gas flaring, considering the refinery's location and the greenery of Calabar and its environs.
He took a swipe at oil companies still flaring gas in the country, saying such wasted gas could be used in generating electricity.
The governor, therefore, called on the Federal Government to put in place a policy that would compel oil companies to utilise the gas they flare for electricity.
He said with this kind of policy in place, the companies could generate as much as 20,000 megawatts of power and solve the problem of power failure in the country.
He lent his support to the decentralisation of power generation, distribution and supply, saying it should be taken off the national plane.
Meanwhile, the Edo State government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Indian Oil Corporation for the construction of new refinery in the state.
The site for the project is yet to be determined.
Speaking at the occasion, Presidential Adviser on Petroleum Matters, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, said the project would help close the yawning gap between demand and supply in the domestic downstream sector.
He added that the project was in line with the Federal Government's policy to open up the downstream sector to other players in the private sector.
Daukoru, who was represented by J.A. Ibikunle, said President Olusegun Obasanjo inherited an almost non-existent oil industry in 1999.
He added that the challenge the situation posed informed the Federal Government's new policies and directives in that sector to ensure among other things:
Daukoru lauded the MOU, saying so far, the Federal Government has approved the construction of five refineries while seven other applications were been processed.
Twenty-two companies, he added, were licensed in June 2002 to establish refineries.
Also speaking at the event, Mr. Chris Ogiemwonyi, who represented the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Funso Kupolokun, advised that the project managers should liaise with relevant regulatory bodies to quicken the completion of the project.
Governor Lucky Igbinedion signed on behalf of the state government while Mr. P.K. Chakraborti, executive director of the Indian Oil Corporation, signed on behalf of the company.
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