The Federal Government has issued 47 Licences to Establish (LTE) and 30 Licences to Construct (LTC) refineries in the past year, in a move aimed at boosting Nigeria’s refining capacity and reducing reliance on imported petroleum products.
Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, made this known at the sixth edition of the Meet-the-Press series held Tuesday in Abuja. He noted that the 47 LTEs have a combined refining capacity of nearly three million barrels per day (bpd).
“We have issued 47 LTEs, translating to 1.75 million bpd, and 30 LTCs with a combined capacity of 1.23 million bpd,” Ahmed said. “Currently, only four plants hold LTCs with a steady output of 27,000 bpd.”
He explained that five of the LTC projects are at either the construction or commissioning stage. These include the 650,000 bpd Dangote Petroleum Refinery, AIPCC Energy’s 30,000 bpd plant, and Waltersmith’s second train with a capacity of 5,000 bpd.
On current refining activities, Ahmed said six licensed private refineries and four government-owned ones are producing a combined 1.12 million bpd. Of this, private plants contribute 679,500 bpd, led by the Dangote Refinery.
Other modular refineries in operation include Aradel Holdings (11,000 bpd), OPAC (10,000 bpd), Waltersmith (5,000 bpd), Duport Midstream (2,500 bpd), and Edo Refining and Petrochemicals Company (1,000 bpd).
Public refineries operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) are contributing 445,000 bpd, sourced from revamped plants in Port Harcourt (150,000 bpd), Warri (125,000 bpd), Kaduna (110,000 bpd), and the old Port Harcourt plant (60,000 bpd).
“These developments underline our commitment to reducing dependency on imported refined products,” Ahmed said.
He added that licensing efforts are ongoing, with new modular refinery approvals granted in Edo, Delta, and Abia states. These are expected to add another 140,000 bpd to the nation’s refining output once completed.
