The Crude Oil Refinery Operators (CORAN) have said that the Federal Government is failing to meet the crude oil volume required for the operation of modular refineries in the production of refined petroleum products
All operational modular refineries in Nigeria are currently operating below their capacity and incurring daily losses, Leadership reports.
Oil marketers and other stakeholders in the mid and downstream oil sectors have consistently called on the Federal Government to provide essential support to modular refinery operators in a bid to reduce Nigeria’s heavy dependence on imported petroleum products.
The modular refineries are crude oil processing plants established as part of efforts to combat oil theft and promote peace in the oil-producing Niger Delta region with capacities of up to 30,000 barrels per day.
The nation’s full-scale refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna, under the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), have remained inactive for an extended period.
Although the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) recently argued that it was meeting the crude oil supply requirements of modular refineries, operators of the plants told our correspondent that this was not true.
Asked if the NUPRC was meeting the crude oil supply requirements of modular refineries, as it recently claimed, the Deputy Chairman, CORAN, Dolapo Kotun, said this was not so.
“Unfortunately and sadly, this (NUPRC’s claim) is not so. Even though discussions have been ongoing for a while, no template or framework/process for supply and delivery has been given to our members who are in operations, having long since reached mechanical completion and final inspection,” Kotun stated.
In August, NUPRC claimed that it was meeting the crude oil requirement of modular refineries after some industry operators criticised the Commission for not supplying crude to the plants
