In a statement issued by the NNPC, it was revealed that the signing ceremony took place on Thursday at the NNPC Tower in Abuja.
The start of operations at Port Harcourt’s 60,000 barrels per day refinery has been delayed from December 2022 to the first quarter of 2023, the federal government said a few weeks ago.
The current agreement is a component of the federal government’s efforts to reduce Nigeria’s excessive dependence on crude oil imports, which is a major source of embarrassment for the country that is Africa’s top crude oil producer.
Under the terms of the agreement, NNPC stated that Daewoo must increase production at the idle 110,000 barrels per day facility to at least 60% of capacity by the end of 2024.
Due to the burden on the country’s foreign exchange, NNPC currently imports all of Nigeria’s petrol requirements, mainly through crude oil for fuel exchange with local and international traders.
According to the state-owned oil company, the NNPC expects to finance Daewoo’s “rapid construction” of the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical complex, which was commissioned in 1980, using a combination of its own revenue and external funding.
On a side note, the federal government announced that it has bought shares in 4 private refineries operating in different parts of the country as part of its plan to ensure energy security. Refineries on the list include the 2,500 barrels per day Duport Modular Refinery in Edo, the 5,000 barrels per day Waltersmith Modular Refinery in Imo, and the 650,000 barrels per day integrated Dangote Refinery in Lagos.