•Group CFO explains why refineries may not operate at 100% capacity after rehabilitationThe Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited , Mallam Mele Kyari yesterday disclosed that working with the Board, management and staff of the company, his target is to make the entity be among the top 50 among the Fortune 500 Companies in three years.
The list includes both public and private companies using publicly available revenue data. According to him, the target would be achievable in the near term. Kyari pointed out that the net assets of the new company remain a major factor working in its favour, stressing that its upstream assets alone could be worth between $80-$90 billion.
“Things have changed and that change is now being amplified because we have an enabling legislation and we are bound by a new set of rules under the Companies and Allied Matters Act ,” he noted. In the coming years, he stated that the company would have private equity, explaining that this would mature in the next 11 months, culminating in a mixed ownership of its shares.
On the contention that the states and local governments are not currently represented on the board of the NNPCL since it’s a federation asset, Kyari stated that the National Assembly which made the law clearly represents every Nigerian.Meanwhile, the NNPC has said it may not be possible for the Port Harcourt, Warrri and Kaduna oil refineries to function at their full capacities when they come back on stream after rehabilitation.
“As envisaged in the Petroleum Industry Act , we have to ensure energy security for the country. To that extent, we cannot run away from the refineries. We have to rehabilitate them. “So, we have that intention to make sure these refineries come back. New refineries are very expensive. You are talking about $3 billion to $5 billion, but the rehabilitation is costing $1 billion and Warri is less than $500 million.
For him, in the short to mid-term, the NNPCL will require private funding so that all control mechanisms will be fully activated.