FG may arrange loans for refinery investors.

 by Stanley Opara.

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

President Goodluck Jonathan has directed the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Ministry of Finance to set up an inter-ministerial committee to fashion out modalities for raising financial support for indigenous oil companies to bring in modular refineries.

 This support will be for firms that are ready to invest, not only in production but also in refining to add value to the crude oil and gas produced  locally before exporting in order to generate employment for the youth and earn more revenue for the country, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison- Madueke, has  said.

Alison-Madueke, who stated this at Aguleri-Otu during the inauguration of Orient Petroleum Plc’s Anambra River Production Facility in Anambra State, the first oil production from an inland basin in Nigeria, pledged government’s support for indigenous oil companies  willing to invest in every area of the value chain of the oil and gas sector.

She expressed satisfaction with the project, explaining that the significance of the event was not just in the discovery and production of oil from an inland basin but in the fact that the feat was achieved by an indigenous company.

The Petroleum minister said, “This shows the way we want to go in the industry; we want to encourage more indigenous oil companies to emulate Orient Petroleum Resources in investing not just in production but also in refining.

“We are working with the Ministry of Finance to set up an inter-ministerial committee to work out ways to give financial support to indigenous companies to bring in modular refineries.”

The Managing Director of Orient Petroleum Resources Plc, Mr. Nnaemeka Nwawka, who spoke earlier, had explained the challenges the company faced in raising funds for the projects, adding that banks had not been too keen in funding the refinery project, which is capital intensive.

He said it was the financial challenge that drove the company into developing its Oil Prospecting Leases 915 and 916, first to guarantee crude supply to the refinery, which he said would be completed by 2013.

In the same vein, Reuters had quoted the Chairman, Orient Petroleum, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, as saying that, “Our expectation is that the refinery will be up and running by the end of next year.

“We expect that by the end of next year, we should be refining 20,000 barrels of oil every day and gradually after that we will build up to 35,000 then 55,000 and possibly higher.”

Nigeria is among the world’s top 10 crude oil exporters but has to import most of its refined product needs due to the dilapidated state of its refineries. Previous efforts to build new refineries had often been delayed or cancelled.

The country currently has a  refining capacity of 445,000 bpd from its four plants but the refineries process around 30 per cent of this amount.

Orient is exploring for oil in Anambra state, which sits north of the main oil producing Niger Delta region, but there have been no official oil reserve figures published.