The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has hinted that the Federal Government may be planning to eventually privatize the nation’s refineries so as to mitigate the challenge of fuel scarcity in the country.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has four refineries, two in Port Harcourt (PHRC), and one each in Kaduna (KRPC) and Warri (WRPC). The refineries have a combined installed capacity of 445,000 bpd.
The refineries have been comatose until recently, when three out of Nigeria’s four oil refineries resumed activity and are operating at between 60 per cent and 80 per cent of their capacity.
The Director-General, Benjamin Dikki, who expressed government’s desire to privatize the refineries, said that the plan would require the passage of the correct Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Dikki, while receiving a delegation from Greenpark Worldwide, led by a one-time British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Sir Richard Gozney, expressed the optimism that the 8th National Assembly would have the opportunity to review the original Bill of 2008, which when passed would achieve the desired result for Nigeria.
