The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has granted an operational license to the Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited, located in Ologbo, Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State.
The NMDPRA, which oversees technical and commercial regulations in the petroleum industry, issued the license as the final approval needed for the refinery to begin operations.
At a ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA, Ahmed Farouk, handed over the certificate to AIPCC, the parent company of the Edo Refinery.
Farouk was joined by Mr. Francis Ogaree, the Executive Director of Hydrocarbon Processing Plant Installation and Transport Infrastructure at NMDPRA. The license was presented to the refinery’s Head of Technical Operations, Segun Okeni.
Farouk assured the refinery’s management that NMDPRA would continue to be a “business enabler” and provide full support for all their projects.
In a statement shared with journalists in Benin City on Tuesday, Okeni expressed the company’s commitment to contributing to the petroleum refinery and gas processing subsector.
He also revealed that AIPCC is developing three additional projects, with one expected to be completed within the next year.
Regarding the alleged lack of crude oil allocation from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, Okeni disclosed, “We are finalizing a major crude supply agreement with an indigenous oil company.
Although the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and NMDPRA have been supportive, once we find a source of crude, they will normally give us urgent approval. However, with this licensing, NUPRC ought to consider existing local refineries in the bidding round for marginal fields.”
