By Etuka Sunday
The Deportment of Petroleum Resources(DPR) has commended the giant strides of the Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Limited (NDPR), a subsidiary of Niger Delta Exploration & Production Plc (NDEP) in pioneering modular refinery in the country.
DPR said, in addition to its maiden 1,000 Barrels per Day (BPD) Diesel Topping Refining Plant, NDPR has consolidated on its capacity by expanding the plant with an additional 5,000 BPD.
The Director/CEO, DPR, Engr. Sarki Auwalu in a statement said, the expansion provides for other products slate to include kerosene, marine diesel and heavy fuel oil to cater for the Nigerian market.
Engr. Auwalu said, “the expanded plant located at Ogbele, Ahoada in Rivers State will potentially reduce importation of petroleum products with corresponding savings in foreign exchange and employment generation for our teaming youths.
“Furthermore, major equipment and units of the second (2nd) Train of 5,000 BPD have been fabricated, inspected, tested and modules are currently being shipped to Nigeria. When installed, the upgraded refining complex will bring the total refining capacity to 11,000 BPD and will then have the requisite units to produce diesel (512,775 litres/day), kerosene (317,205 litres/clay), marine diesel (281,907 litres/day) and heavy fuel oil (234,525 litres/day), and particularly Premium Motor Spirit/gasoline (168,540 litres/day).
“The DPR provided necessary regulatory guidance and technical support throughout the project development phases for NDPR to contribute about 4.2% of national daily diesel demand and about o.4% for gasoline in Nigeria.
“Having achieved these giant strides, the DPR is set to grant NDPR a ‘Licence to Operate’ (LTO) the plant expected to be commissioned soon.
“This laudable project is expected to catalyze further growth of the Nigerian Refining Industry by attracting more investments as more players gain confidence.
“In the same vain, DPR directs all modular refinery ‘Licence to Establish’ (LTE) holders to demonstrate expected performance within the 2 years validity of the Licence to enable them obtain ‘Approval to Construct’ (ATC) and other milestone approvals,” the statement said.
