The Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, has thrown light on the modular refineries the Federal Government is planning for the Niger Delta region.
Mr. Maikanti, at the 53rd International Conference and Exhibition of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, NMGS, in Abuja, said that the government will organize the youths now engaged in local refining of crude into consortia.
Each consortium will refine 1,000 barrels of crude daily.
Baru also defended the Federal Government’s plan to transform illegal refineries in the Niger Delta into legal entities for proper integration of the youths in the region.
He argued that getting the youths to form consortia to set up 1,000 barrels per day modular refineries would get them off crime and create jobs.
He said that the reform programme being executed by the NNPC was geared towards transforming it from an oil and gas company into an integrated energy outfit with interest in power generation and transmission.
In a paper entitled, Challenges and Prospects for the Diversification of the Upstream, Downstream and Frontier Basin Exploration in the Oil and Gas Sector, Mr. Baru said NNPC had identified opportunities in the power sector and was ready to take advantage of them to transform from being gas suppliers to the power sector, into a major player in the sector.
He said that the corporation was already working on a project to generate 4,000 Megawatts of electricity while also exploring the possibility of investing in the transmission segment of the power sector.
The GMD explained that the corporation’s decision to diversify into the power sector was hinged on the need to bridge the huge energy gap in the Nigerian market.
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