In August 2020, a modular refinery, expected to process 5500 barrels of crude oil per day in Edo was about 70 per cent completed, the State Governor, Godwin Obaseki said.
“The refinery is at 70 percent completion and we are very sure that it will soon be ready for commissioning”.
It is over a year now. What has held up the 30% balance?
Being constructed by the Edo Modular and Refinery Company Limited, and AIPCC Energy, Obaseki said in August 2020 that the project is one of successful MOUs!
Edo taxpayers’ N700 million is tied up as redeemable preference shares in the MOU refinery, for how long nobody can tell.
Obaseki said that the refinery located at Ologbo in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area (LGA), would produce from its feedstock
*50 per cent of diesel (500,000 litres)
* 25 percent of naphtha (300,000 litres), and
* 20 percent of fuel oil (200,000) litres.
The crude would be sourced from the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company’s (NPDC) facility – oil mining lease (OML) 111, near Benin City.
Obaseki added a Chinese consortium handling the construction of the refinery is made up of Peiyang Chemical Equipment Company of China (PCC), Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation (SIPS), and African Infrastructure Partners (AIP).
Fastforward to June 2021….Obaseki again said… the Edo modular refinery would begin operation in August 2021 after a tour of the refinery.
He said: “The plant is ready; it’s ready to receive crude oil; it’s ready to process and it’s ready to deliver products.
“They have done the pre-commissioning with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). They have certified the refinery as ready for production.”
“Three years ago, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed. You can see that MoU works. So far, I am very impressed that the plant has moved in such a speed.
“What we have left now is to finalise the crude oil sale contract, these facilities have to get a certain type of crude from the Escravos line and that is being finalised.
“I hope that before the end of August, we should start lifting products from this refinery,” he said.
We are in October 2021..