The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has revealed why the Federal Government opted to renovate the Port Harcourt refinery instead of building a new one.
WuzupNigeria reported that the Federal Executive Council sparked controversy after approving $1.5bn (N572.3m) for the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt Refinery on Wednesday, March 17.
Speaking to newsmen on the decision of the government On Monday, Mele Kyari, NNPC Group Managing Director said that the government doesn’t have the financial capacity to build a new refinery.
Kyari noted that the cost of a new refinery is about $10billion compared to $1.5billion billed for renovation.
Aide from the cost implication, the NNPC boss added that it would take four years to complete the construction of a new refinery, hence, petroleum products, especially Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) will be imported for another 48 months.
Daily Post reports that Kyari revealed that the last turnaround maintenance of the Port Harcourt refinery was done two decades ago as a result of the current high cost of rehabilitation.
“A new refinery will take four years to commence production. It is around $7billion and $12billion dollars to construct a refinery of this nature,” he said.
Kyari stated that estimates in public space are inaccurate and do not take other factors into account.
The NNPC chief mentioned “an additional 25 per cent cost for construction battle-limits” to the 7-12 billion dollars.
“You cannot build a refinery at any cost below these amounts. The option you have is to scrap and build a new one; we all know that we don’t have that resource,” he stated.
