NIGERIA TO DEPEND ON FUEL IMPORTATION FOR NEXT 2 YEARS

…As Pipeline Vandals Cripple NNPC Refineries
The use of local refineries to bridge the gap in petroleum importation into Nigeria has definitely been halted as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said last week that the four refineries in the country are currently not producing a liter of the product.  This, according to the corporation is because all the crude oil pipelines supplying the refineries have been vandalized by criminals.
Addressing members of the House of Representatives committee on petroleum (down stream) in Abuja last week, the minister of petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke explained that Nigeria would have to import its entire petroleum products in the next 18 to 24 months before the pipes are repaired.
Also confirming the troubling revelation, the group managing director of the NNPC, Austin Aniwon who accompanied the minister to the briefing affirmed that for the next 18 to 24 months to come, Nigeria would entirely rely on 100 per cent imported refined petroleum products.
Oniwon told the house that before the vandalisation of the pipelines Nigeria was importing 80 per cent of its petroleum requirements, while all its four refineries were working at an average of about 60 per cent, though they have a total installed capacity of 450,000 barrels- per-day that could have met 60 per cent of its domestic consumption of 3 million litres of premium motor spirit (PMS).
According to the GMD, vandals had cut off a vital pipeline that supplies crude oil from Escravos estuary in Warri, Delta State, to the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Refinery, Warri. The pipeline also supplies the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company.
He explained: "The Warri and Kaduna refineries were operating at 60 per cent capacity before the incident. The Port Harcourt refinery which was performing optimally is faced by two main problems.
"The first is that it has a serious challenge with power supply. The second is that, every week, vandals would burst its main supply and steal crude."
He said that the NNPC is assiduously trying to fix the damage, but that it would take some time and resources.
The GMD also informed the committee that Nigeria has entered into an understanding with China for the construction of three Greenfield refineries, but that only the site of one of the refineries had been found. "We have paid $1.7 million for market research and for the economics of the refineries," he stated.
He said that the money would largely be supplied by China, under a public-private partnership (PPP). The refineries would be sited in Lagos, Bayelsa and Kogi states, but only that of Lagos had a site.