Page 11 - Downstream Monitor - MEA Week 32

DMEA RefInInG DMEA
Edo Modular Refinery to begin operations by year-end
AfRICA
THE local government in Nigeria’s Edo State has announced that a state-sponsored modular re nery will begin operations by the end of 2019.
In a statement, state government spokesman Crusoe Osagie said the modular unit had been completed and would be inspected by depart- ment of Petroleum Resources (dPR) o cials before being shipped to Nigeria.
e facility will be located in Ologbo in the Ikpoba Okha area of Edo.
e Edo modular re nery is to be developed by Edo Re nery and Petrochemicals Co. to pro- cess 6,000 barrels per day (bpd) of local crude and produce re ned products such as kerosene, diesel, naphthalene and petrochemicals.
e project company was launched by the Edo state administration of former investment banker Godwin Obaseki, who has previously been a major proponent of infrastructure pro- jects. In September 2018, a local government statement said that Obaseki had approved a state contribution of NGN700mn ($1.94mn) for the modular re nery.
is followed an earlier announcement that the state government had signed a memoran- dum of understanding (Mou) with Chinese rm Peiyang Chemical Equipment Co. (PCC) for the construction of a 1,000 bpd re nery, which was due to be completed in April 2019.
As has come to be expected from the Nige- rian downstream, statements about the pro- ject created confusion, with a subsequent
announcement saying that the Mou had been signed with a consortium consisting of PCC, Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corp. (SIPS) and African Infrastructure Partners (AIP) for a 5,500 bpd unit.
As reported by downstream MEA in July, the Edo re nery will be constructed in two phases, with the rst intended to complete a 500 bpd demonstration re nery and the second to build a 5,000 bpd facility.
e project’s technical director, Tim Tian, was quoted by local media as saying that the Edo modular refinery will receive feedstock from Nigerian Petroleum development Co.’s (NPdC) oil mining lease (OML) 111, near Benin City.
He added that when operational, the re n- ery will produce 500,000 litres of diesel, 300,000 litres of naphta and 200,000 litres of fuel oil.
Meanwhile, the dPR announced this week that a licence had been approved for the con- struction of the 5,000 bpd modular Ikwe-Onna Re nery project, to be located in Akwa Ibom State.
dPR o cial Modupe Salawu was quoted by Nigeria’s Vanguard as saying that the equipment manufacturers, Chemex Modular uSA and Local Content Companies, Cakasa have moved to site to commence construction work.
e re nery is being built by a special pur- pose vehicle (SPV) under a public private partnership (PPP), which is meant to drive the development of Nigeria’s re ning sector.™
Week 32 15•August•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P11