The federal government's Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which contains the road map for Nigeria's economic development, has already failed in its target of revamping the refineries to reduce petroleum product imports by 60 per cent in the year 2018 which just ended. By that medium term economic blueprint, the country is also expected to become a net exporter of refined petroleum products by 2020, which is another mirage.
Nigeria is the 12th largest oil-producing nation in the world, with an estimated 37.2 billion barrels of crude oil deposits and seventh in the world in terms of gas reserves of about 187 trillion cubic feet. But she is not among the top three countries in Africa in terms of refining capacity. It also has the unsavoury distinction of being the only member country of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that depends on imported refined petroleum products. Yet, the country has four refineries, two in Port Harcourt (PHRC), and one each in Kaduna (KRPC) and Warri (WRPC), with a combined installed capacity of 445,000 barrels per day (bpd).
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