The Federal Government has licensed 10 more modular refineries, making it 32 so far licensed in order to expand nation’s capacity.
As at end of first quarter of last year, 22 modular refineries had been licensed by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) with daily refining capacity of 1,429,000 million barrels per day while conventional refineries of between 30,000 to 650,000 barrels per day stood at 35 in number.
Speaking in Lagos at the third edition of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)’s downstream clinic, DPR director, Mordecai Danteni Baba Ladan said licensing more companies is part of efforts to encourage more private investors to key into government’s plan to ensure the country is sufficient in petroleum products by 2019.
A modular refinery is a processing plant that has been constructed entirely on skid mounted structures. Each structure contains a portion of the entire process plant, and through interstitial piping the components link together to form an easily manageable process.
At $50,000 per license for modular refinery, a total sum of $1,600,000 has been generated from the licensing by DPR within the last three years.
Out of the 32 licensees, only two refineries belonging to Dubri oil with 1,000 barrels per day and Niger Delta Exploration Company of 2,000 barrels diesel refinery
President LCCI, Dr (Mrs.) Nike Akande said though it is time for the nation to look beyond oil, it is imperative for the federal government to get its policies right adding that the potentials in the oil and gas sector are still largely untapped.
