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Nigeria: FG Eyes Additional Refineries
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Leadership (Abuja)
25 July 2008
Posted to the web 25 July 2008
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Abubakar Lawal Yar'Adua, has said that government was considering building additional refineries in the country in order to derive full potential of the nation's hydrocarbon resources.
Receiving visiting officials of the Ministry of Energy from Uganda in Abuja, Yar'Adua said: "Nigeria will be the hub for petroleum products supply in West Africa and indeed the entire African continent".
A statement from the NNPC on Wednesday in Abuja quoted Yar'Adua as saying that additional refineries in the country would go a long way to satisfy domestic consumption and generate more revenue for the country and that the nation's refineries were curently producing at different levels of effectiveness.
He told the visitors that the nation's oil and gas industry was undergoing reforms aimed at repositioning the sector for better performance.
"After the restructuring, the NNPC will be able to source for funds and execute its projects and declare dividend to its shareholders", he said.
"The reform in the industry is in line with government's desire to make NNPC function purely as a profit-oriented, commercial and duly capitalised limited liability company with right to raise funds for its projects and operations just like its peers around the world," Yar'Adua said.
He disclosed that the NNPC was pursuing the issue of local content in the industry aimed at domesticating the "industry spend", which is in line with government's desire to boost the economy.
The NNPC boss described the visit of the Ugandans to share the NNPC experience as timely, since Uganda just discovered hydrocarbon resources in commercial quantity.
"With the discovery, the relationship between the NNPC and Uganda would flourish in the long run", he assured the visitors.
He advised the officials to prioritise the issue of local content as well as building refineries from the onset so as to avoid the mistakes of sister countries that have hydrocarbon resources.
Earlier, the Head of the Ugandan delegation, Mr.Mbabazi Araali, had informed Yar'Adua that they were in the country to learn about the activities of the NNPC in order to be in a better position to handle the newly created Ugandan Oil and Gas Company.
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(NAN)
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