FG approves construction of Ikwe-Onna refinery in Akwa Ibom

‘Council to drive research, funding in oil, gas industry’
The Federal Government has approved the construction of Ikwe-Onna Refinery to be located in Ikwe, Onna Local Council of Akwa Ibom State.

An official of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Modupe Salawu, who disclosed this while speaking with journalists yesterday in Uyo, said the refinery project under the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, would be a flagship for modular refineries in the country.

The modular refinery, sited in 50.1 hectares of land in Ikwe Community, Onna Local Council of the state, on completion will produce about 5,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) as a start-up and to be beefed up to 20,000 bpd in the medium-term and 100,000 bpd in the long-term.

Chairman, Board of Directors of the company, Bassey Rex, said the refinery was incorporated in August 2016 as an indigenous oil and gas group in partnership with Ikwe community to enhance the socio-economic development of the state with full participation of community stakeholders to bring its activities closer to the host-communities.

However, the Nigerian Content Research and Development Council (NCRDC) has been formed to oversee research and development in the nation’s oil and gas sector, with the intent to attract the right funding and better the overall Nigerian economy.

Kachikwu inaugurated the Council in Abuja, according to a statement from the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

The Council is expected to advise the NCDMB on matters relating to research, development and innovation strategy for the oil and gas industry.