The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) said the importation of petroleum products into the country will be stopped by mid-2023.
NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, stated this at the State House Ministerial Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said that the combined output of Nigeria’s refineries being revamped and Dangote refinery would be enough to stop importation.
“Even if all the refineries are working today, you will still have a net deficit of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to import into this country. This is what it means, because our population has grown, demand has grown, and the middle class has grown. I am sure everybody here owns one or two cars, and as such, the volume of petroleum products we require in this country has grown exponentially.
“So even if they all come, we are not going to stop importation of petroleum products, but happily also, NNPC Ltd owns 20 per cent equity in the Dangote Refinery and we are very proud of this,” he said.
“But we saw this energy transition challenge coming. We knew that time will come when you will look for people who will buy your crude oil, you will not find. And that means we have locked down the ability to sell crude oil for 33,000 barrels minimum by right for the next 20 years. By right also, we have access to 20 per cent of the production from that plant,” Kyari said.
He expressed optimism that Dangote Refinery would become operational by the middle of 2023.
According to him, the refinery has a production capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.
“It can crack the crude in a manner that you can have more gasoline than a typical refinery. That means the refinery has the ability to produce up to 50 million litres of PMS. So, the combination of that and our own ability to bring back our refinery will completely eliminate any importation of petroleum products into this country,” he said.
The NNPC boss said he was looking forward to Nigeria becoming a hub of export of petroleum products, not just to the West African region but to the rest of the world.
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