Page 17 - DMEA Week 13 2021
P. 17
DMEA REFINING DMEA
NNPC to take diminished
role in Port Harcourt
AFRICA NIGERIA National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) the signing-off of a $1.5bn package to cover the
will reduce its shareholding in the country’s Port repairs.
Harcourt refining complex once controversial Italy’s Maire Tecnimont will carry out
repair work on the decrepit facility have been the work in three phases, with the first phase
completed. designed to bring the unit back to 90% name-
Speaking to local media last week, the compa- plate capacity within 18 months, the second to be
ny’s managing director Mele Kyari said that the completed within 24 months and the final stage
plan was for the state to complete the work and within 44 months.
attract a majority shareholder to invest and oper- Mele Kyari’s comments align with a statement
ate the facility from that point onward. made by the oil minister. “Operations and main-
“We bring in the private sector to take equity tenance have been a big problem for [Nigeria’s]
in this refinery and then we continue to grow that refineries, this has been exhaustively discussed
business from that perspective,” he said. in council,” he said.
The Port Harcourt complex is comprised of NNPC agreed a loan of around $1bn with
two units, built roughly 25 years apart, with joint lenders led by Cairo-based African Export-Im-
total capacity of 210,000 barrels per day (bpd), port Bank (Afreximbank) in February.
making it Nigeria’s largest refinery. However, it Sylva noted that once the rehabilitation has
has been shut down for around 18 months, citing been completed, a “professional operations and
repairs, though these have not yet begun. maintenance company [will be hired] to main-
Earlier last week, Nigerian Minister of tain the refinery … this is one of the conditions
State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva of the lenders”.
announced that the rehabilitation of Port Har- He added: “That’s embedded in discussions
court would “commence forthwith”, following with the lenders.”
FUELS
Turkey’s oil product imports
down nearly 25%
MIDDLE EAST TURKEY’S oil product imports decreased by The main suppliers were Algeria, the US,
24.7% y/y to 2.65mn tonnes in January, data Kazakhstan, Norway and Russia.
from the country’s energy watchdog, EPDK, Local liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pro-
have shown. duction in January showed more than a 29% y/y
Crude oil imports dropped 31.6% y/y to decline to 66,603 tonnes, but exports leapt nearly
1.83mn tonnes, the EPDK added in its monthly 248% y/y to 33,000 tonnes.
market report. Total LPG sales on the local market amounted
Russia was the largest supplier of oil at to 258,000 tonnes, marking a 21% decline from
689,000 tonnes. Turkey bought 605,000 tonnes January last year.
of oil from Iraq and another 290,000 tonnes from
Kazakhstan in the month.
Oil refinery product output decreased by
20.1% to 2.30mn tonnes in January, while gaso-
line production plunged nearly 35% to 270,395
tonnes.
Total domestic oil product sales in the month
fell by 8% to 1.96mn tonnes in the month from
a year ago.
The regulator also reported that the country’s
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports declined
by 21.1% y/y to 207,225 tonnes in January.
Week 13 01•April•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P17
