A bill that seeks to stimulate investments in the establishment of petroleum refineries in Nigeria has passed through a second reading on the floor of the House of Representatives. It scaled the hurdles last week. The bill was sponsored by Hon. Emmanuel Oyeyemi Adedeji
Titled, "A bill for an Act to prescribe investment in petroleum refineries as a condition for licensing and operation of oil producing companies in Nigeria, 2010" and was subsequently referred to the House Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) for further considerations.
Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, its sponsor, Hon Adedeji, explained that the spirit of the bill was o ensure that Nigeria enjoys the benefits of undisrupted fuel supply at affordable price in line with agreements with investors in the sector.
According to him, "the average daily demand for petrol in Nigeria is estimated at 30 million litres per day and if existing refineries produce at maximum capacity, they can only produce 17 million litres per day. At that rate, the country must still import 13 million litres per day."
Lamenting that as the world’s sixth major oil producing country, Nigeria still imports up to 80 per cent of her fuel needs, he submitted that the development of the nation’s refineries must be a condition in the agreements with oil investors, even as eh expressed optimism that if the Bill is passed , the rot in the refineries will soon become a thing of the past.
"Recent reports from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) shows that out of the four refineries in the country, only Port Harcourt refineries are currently producing at 38 per cent of their installed capacity”, he added.
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