With the poor state of the country’s existing refineries, the investment comes amid continuous reliance on importation of PMS into Nigeria, even as it is a major exporter of crude oil; a development that has drained government’s revenues with spending on subsidy.
Recall that the board has been part of a 5,000bopd modular refinery being developed by Waltersmith Refining and Petrochemical Company, boasting of a 30 per cent equity financing. He explained that the investments were part of the approvals granted recently by the Board’s Governing Council chaired by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva.
He stressed that the recent drastic drop in the prices of oil had made it imperative to have refining capacities to reduce if not eliminate cases of stranded oil cargoes without buyers.