The Federal Government of Nigeria has projected that by the first Quarter of 2024, the country will put an end to the importation of petroleum products into the country.
Mr. Timipre Sylva who is the Minister of State Petroleum Resources pointed out that by the first quarter of 2024, the rehabilitation of the Port-Harcourt refinery will be partly completed while the 650,000 barrel per day (bod) capacity Dangote Refinery will also be on stream.
Sylva made this known at the resumption of the ‘PMB Administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023)’ organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture.
Africa Today News, New York reports that while presenting the scorecard of his ministry, Sylva specifically said that the 60,000 bpd capacity refinery within the Port-Harcourt Refinery complex will be ready for production by Quarter one of 2024.
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The Minister added that the Dangote Refinery, the largest single-train refinery in the world with investment of over $25 billion, will also be on stream before the end of 2023 in addition to several modular refineries projects in the country.
He therefore assured that with the combined production of the Port-Harcourt refinery, Dangote refinery and the modular refineries, Nigeria will end importation of petroleum products into the country.
The minister disclosed that to ensure local supply of the productions by the private refineries, the Federal Government deliberately took a 20 percent equity stake in the Dangote Refinery.
The minister also said the Federal Government took 30 percent equity stake in each of the 5000bpd Walter Smith modular refinery in Ibigwe, Imo state, and 10,000 bpd Duport Modular Refinery in Edo state among others.
He pointed out that the government is currently addressing the challenge of access to crude oil being faced by the modular refineries.
The minister also reiterated the position of the Federal Government that subsidy regime is no longer sustainable
According to him, the huge fund being spent on subsidy could be deployed to other developmental projects that would impact positively on many Nigerians.