According to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the implementation of a new commercial model that will allow private investors to invest in restoring the operational efficiency of the country’s refineries.

“Because of what is happening and the global trend, President Muhammadu Buhari gave approval for strategic investments to be made in the refineries. So, the investment model is basically this way: strategic investors who can bring refining expertise and funding will partner local players with downstream experience to actually go into the refineries, invest money and within 24 months to get us to 90 percent capacity utilisation.

“We are in the preparation stage. We had meetings with Chiyoda, who is the original refinery builder of Kaduna (refinery), and JGC, who built Port Harcourt, and the idea for going with them is that because they do this consistently, they have access and we expect them to open their supply access to us to enable us get parts and pricing at better rates,” the Chief Operating Officer for Refineries, NNPC, Mr Anibor Kragha, said.

Mr Kragha explained during a plenary at the ongoing Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference in Abuja on Wednesday, 1st March 2017, that the corporation would not sell equities in the refineries to any of the investors, but that the arrangement would be based on investment, operate for a period and earn returns on investments.

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