- The Federal Government has granted licence to Epic Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Ltd to build a 107,000bpd refinery in Oporoma, Bayelsa State.
- Disclosing this to journalists in Lagos recently during a chat, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Barango Matthew Wenke Jnr., said the project would cost about U.S. $30 billion, adding that the fund had been secured.
- He said when completed, it will have a capacity to refine 107, 000 barrels per day on a modular arrangement of 30-30-30-17 and would create at least 100, 000 jobs .
According to Wenke, “EPIC Refinery started this journey in 2011 and we have been through the mill. We have paid the statutory dues and presented the technical details to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). The DPR visited the site in Oporoma and did its assessment and we qualified for the issuance of the LTE since 2013. But for whatever reasons, it was delayed. But we are happy today that this government came and on June 15, this year, issued us the licence.
Now we are hitting the ground running because actually the first partners we had walked away because of the delay. So, we severed the relationship. But the moment we got the licence, those who had been waiting keyed into the project. Our new partners are from the Middle East and the U. S. Also, locally we have some enterprising Nigerians who are willing to bring in their money into the project.
The refinery will come on stream within 12 to 16 months. It is feasible and I will tell you why. The major stage is the manufacturing of the plants which as soon as we open the LC to them they can finish them within seven to nine months. But while they are doing the manufacturing there, we will get on with the civil works that we need to do locally. On September 16, this year, we are signing a contract with the equipment manufacturers here in Lagos. Funds for the project are already secured. DPR has also attached engineers to the project,” he said.
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