The Federal Government has pledged to support the ongoing Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Plant project of with crude oil feedstock when the plant becomes operational.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the plant which has 650,000 barrels per day capacity is expected to be commissioned in April, 2020.
On Monday, a statement by acting spokesman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Samson Makoji quoted the minister State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, as making the pledge during a tour on the project in Lagos.
According to the minister, the refinery will attract more Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, into Nigeria upon completion.
“The Dangote Refinery is a very impressive project done by a Nigerian for Nigeria”, the Minister said.
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On his part, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, who was also on the tour, said it was necessary to support the project in order to realise the Federal Government’s aspiration of reversing the ugly trend of fuel importation.
The GMD also disclosed that the NNPC was in the process of establishing two new 200,000 barrels per day, bpd, Condensate Refineries to boost in-country refining capacity.
According to him, Nigeria would soon be turned into a net exporter of petroleum products.
He added that these complementary efforts by the NNPC and the Dangote Group would guarantee energy security for Nigeria.
Mr Kyari said: “Our objective is to make Nigeria a net exporter of petroleum products and you can only achieve that by complementing each other, both the public and the private sector.
“We are going to do more and we actually need more of these private sector refineries for Nigeria to become a net exporter of gasoline and other associated products.”
