By Habibat Aliu
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Daewoo have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to rehabilitate the Kaduna Refinery.
The development was confirmed by President Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina, through a press statement
Adesina said the MoU was signed on Thursday, October 27, 2022, in Seoul, South Korea during the first World Bio Summit
Daewoo Group is also involved in ongoing rehabilitation works at the Warri Refinery which is expected to start working by 2023.
President Muhammadu Buhari was present at the MoU signing and was quoted to have said: “Daewoo Group has massive investments in the automobile, maritime and other sectors of our economy. I am also aware that Daewoo is currently engaged in the execution of the NLNG train seven project and also constructing sea-going LPG vessels for NNPC and her partners. This, no doubt will open many more windows of opportunity for Daewoo and other Korean companies in Nigeria. I thank you for your faith in Nigeria.”
It would be recalled that in January 2022, NNPCL said it spent N8.3 billion monthly for 12 months between January and December 2021 on refinery rehabilitation.
Also, during the 2019 Oil Trading and Logistics Africa Downstream Week, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said that the “refurbishment of the existing refineries to achieve full capacity operations shall be fast-tracked: (Port Harcourt ongoing, others to follow by Q1 and Q2 2020).”
According to the new arrangement, the Warri Refinery will commence operations in December 2023
In August 2021, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the sum of $1.48 billion for the rehabilitation of both the Warri and Kaduna refineries.
Refineries rehabilitation gulped N100 billion in 2021, the NNPC said. The money was spent on refineries’ rehabilitation.
