FG explains establishment of modular refineries in Delta, Rivers

Stakeholders seek revolution in nation’s gas sector
The Presidency yesterday explained the rationale behind the establishment of modular refineries in Delta and Rivers states, insisting that it was in line with its desire to empower the Niger Delta region.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on the Niger Delta, Edobor Iyamu, said this at a one-day capacity building workshop with the theme: Niger Delta New Vision: Partnership For Regional Development And Nation-Building.

At the workshop organised for the media, civil society organisations (CSOs) and staff of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) at the State House Auditorium, Abuja, he explained that licenses for the refineries had already been obtained in line with government’s objective.

He said work on the refineries had commenced, adding that one of them was about 70 per cent complete in Kwale, Delta State while the other was located in Rivers State.

Iyamu disclosed that among the interventions made through the Niger Delta New Vision, were gas commercialisation to address the issue of gas flare, increased budgetary allocations and designing of the Strategic Implementation Work Plan (SIWP), for effective implementation of the new vision.

He cited the establishment of the Maritime University and the Ogoni cleanup, as some of the achievements recorded since government started the implementation of the new vision for the region.

Meanwhile, stakeholders in the petroleum sector have said the country should create an environment that would allow investors contribute to Nigeria’s natural gas resources with the objective of driving industrialisation.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, Chairman House Committee on Gas, Fredrick Agbedi and the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, are among those who held this view at the ongoing World Gas Conference (WGC) in Washington DC, United States.

They insisted that the country has to get its industries to work through gas solutions.

Kachikwu said it was important for Nigeria to market its enormous gas resources at the global level to ensure that gas was available domestically to power plants.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Folashade Yemi-Esan, he said experience, ideas and lessons from other countries would spur Nigeria to dismantle obstacles to gas-to-power aspirations and industrialisation.

Baru said NNPC was driving a number of initiatives, including collaborating with the National Assembly to address the fiscals; putting the required infrastructure in place and ensuring that new power plants were built.

Chairman Senate Committee on Gas, Bassey Albert Akpan, said the National Assembly was working on the fiscals and the administrative aspects of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), having already passed the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), which he said, was awaiting Presidential assent.