The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said
that state-owned refineries would make direct
payments into the federation account from 2016.
The refineries are subsidiaries of the NNPC,
which is the body expected to make the
payments. However, according to a report by The
Cable, Kachikwu said the NNPC was adopting a
plan that would give the refineries some sort of
autonomy, without privatising them.
In a statement by Ohi Alegbe, the corporation’s
spokesperson, Kachikwu was quoted as saying
high level discussions were underway with local
and international investors to bridge funding gap
in the sector.
Kachikwu said,
“The new model is that refineries
would now buy their own crude oil, refine it and
make remittances to the federation account
allocation committee.
“They would operate a semi autonomy system
that would enable them to run in a profitable
manner.”
The statement expressed the federal
government’s readiness to raise funds from
international investors and the private sector in
2016 to fund the joint venture cash calls between
the NNPC and international oil companies
operating in the country.
Kachikwu said the initiative was geared towards
preventing the government from bearing the
burden of funding capital intensive projects in the
upstream sector of the oil and gas industry. The
minister assured that the NNPC’s over 5000 km
of pipelines across the country would be
privatised in order to enhance efficient
management of the infrastructure and bring
pipeline vandalism to the barest minimum.
According to him, in another 24 months, Nigerians
would see a positive change in the refinery model,
to meet needs not only in Nigeria but in the West
African sub region.
Speaking on the December deadline for the
refineries, Kachikwu said the reports before him
showed that, two of the refineries were likely to
meet the deadline.
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