Edo Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited, being developed by AIPCC Energy Limited at Ologbo, Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, will begin operation in October this year, it was learnt.
The 6,000 barrels per day (bpd) capacity modular refinery, according to AIPCC management, is being developed with the support of Edo State government.
Its Technical Director, Mr. Tim Tian, said the fabrication of the refinery has been completed in China and is awaiting inspection and approval by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) before it will be shipped to site in Nigeria.
According to Tian, on arrival, final touches will be made to the fabrication and installation will follow, after which the refinery will commence operation.
He said the local community also has a participating interest in the project, adding that the company will also build mini LNG plant there and will capture some flared gas, which will be processed into LNG and be used as fuel to power the power plant that will be used to operate the refinery.
He said the refinery will get its feedstock (crude) from the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company’s (NPDC) facility – oil mining lease (OML) 111, located in Oredo, Ologbo near Benin.
nomic side, PMS is not profitable because it is highly regulated. To process PMS we need to process naphta to octane number to 92 which is Nigeria’s specification instead of 65.
“Feature for modular refinery are small capacity and simple process. Modular refinery is good for Nigeria. Modular refinery is of advantage to Nigeria because its crude is light and sweet. By simple process, you can have good quality products from the crude that can be used in the local market directly. In China it is quite different because we are short of crude oil and the crude we have is small and sour. Therefore the cost of refining in China is higher than in Nigeria.”
He said the refinery when operational will produce from its feedstock 50 per cent of diesel (500,000 litres), 25 per cent of naphta (300,000 litres and 20 per cent of fuel oil (200,000) litres. According to him, the refinery will not be producing PMS presently because government regulates its price and it will not be economically viable to go into its refining.
Tian stated that it is because of regulation of price of PMS (petrol) that those licensed by the DPR in the past to set up private refineries could not build. They (licensees) rather would choose to trade the crude than refine it in-country because government subsidizes PMS. Diesel can be refined in Nigeria because the price is deregulated.
AIPCC Energy Limited is a subsidiary of African Infrastructure Partners (AIP), a business group with interests in oil and gas, power, financial services, agriculture and technology.