Nigeria to See $4.5 Billion in New Refineries

Nigeria is once again looking to increase its woefully inadequate refining capacity and toward that end has announced a $4.5 billion deal that will see the construction of six new refineries. The government has entered into a partnership with US firm Vulcan Petroleum Resources.

The agreement will see the first two of the planned six refineries built within the first year and the remainder within 30 months. All six of the refineries will have a combined capacity of 180,000 bpd, which in relative terms to Nigeria’s consumption of refined products is not much, but it will still aid the country in meeting some of its needs.

Nigeria’s refining sector has been deemed a “mess” and while there are always plans in the works to privatize the country’s four refineries they have yet to bear any fruit. Sabotage, fire, poor management, and poor maintenance have led to the refineries’ sad state of disrepair and the government’s need to spend revenue needed elsewhere on importing refined crude.

Umaru Dembo, a former Nigerian energy minister, said: “It means quite a lot… because, up to now, we seem to be dependent on refined oil from somewhere else… the three or four refineries that we have now do not supply the needs of refined products that Nigeria needs at the moment.”