• FG asks CORAN to approach devt financiers for funding
Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association (CORAN) in Abuja, yesterday, said existing 27,000 barrels per day modular refineries in the country are being frustrated.

The group, in a courtesy call on Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, said supply of crude oil to local refineries remains a challenge, even as dollarisation of crude purchase is affecting the potentials of existing refineries.

This came as Lokpobiri asked the investors, who were demanding support from the government, to approach development financing bodies to raise money needed to strengthen their capacity.

The refiners also raised concerns over multiple taxation, asking the Federal Government to remove a series of fees attached to locally refined diesel.

President of CORAN, Momoh Oyarekhua, insisted that refining the nation’s crude locally should be a priority for the current government, stressing that exporting crude and importation would not benefit the country.

He said: “As of today, we have about four refineries that are in operation: OPAC refinery, the Walter Smith refinery, the Aradel refinery and the Edo refinery,” adding that the four have a combined capacity of 27,000 barrels per day.

“For every litre of AGO (diesel) or DPK (kerosene) you sell into the market, those fees cumulate into about N9.80, which invariably increases the price of that product in the market.

“We think that as Nigerians and as people who invested here, our first interest is to serve the domestic market; not to make the price of this product unaffordable to Nigerians. And what are these fees that we are talking about?

“For example, there is a 0.5 per cent wholesale fee that is meant to be paid. But that fee, according to the regulation and Act, says that the money is supposed to be paid by the wholesale buyer of that product,” Oyarekhua said.

Lokpobiri, while responding to the investors, said the Federal Government would look at the issues.