Page 13 - AfrOil Week 38

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil

AIPCC Energy hopes to boost Edo

refinery’s capacity 10-fold by 2025

NIGERIA AIPCC Energy, a joint venture formed by Nige- representatives recently put the cost of rais-
ria’s AFCOM and China’s Peiyang Chemical ing the plant’s throughput capacity to 30,000
Equipment Co. (PCC), has announced plans bpd at around $64mn. According to previous
for a 10-fold increase in the processing capacity reports, the joint venture has already spent
of its new modular refinery. about $10.2mn on building the first phase of the
The first phase of the joint venture’s refin- modular refinery. The facility is due to be com-
ery – located in Ologbo, a town in the Ikpoba missioned by the end of this month.
Okha region of Nigeria’s Edo State – has an The refinery will only handle about 1,000
initial capacity of 6,000 barrels per day (bpd). bpd of feedstock when it comes on stream and
Representatives of AIPCC Energy said last then ramp up to 6,000 bpd. Diesel will account
week, though, that the plant was on track to see for about 55% of output during first-phase oper-
throughput rise to 60,000 bpd by the middle of ations, with residual fuel oil (RFO) accounting
the decade. for another 38% and naphtha for most of the
The additional capacity will put the refinery remaining 7%. ™
in a position to cover a large portion of domes-
tic demand for diesel fuel, said Segun Okeni,
AIPCC Energy’s head of quality, health and
safety and community relations. “Some of the
products will be exported to increase foreign
exchange earnings. We will be able to cover over
80% of Nigeria’s diesel needs. This is the vision
we have for the next five years,” he was quoted as
saying by Agence Ecofin.
He went on to say that he expected the pro-
ject to help improve economic conditions in Edo
State and elsewhere in Nigeria. The refinery will
create well-paying jobs for local residents and
improve domestic fuel suppliers, he asserted.
Okeni did not reveal the cost of the
expansion programme, but AIPCC Energy The first phase of the Edo refinery has a capacity of 6,000 bpd (Photo: PM News)

POLICY
Algerian cabinet member says

he does not back shale gas plans

MOZAMBIQUE CHEMS-EDDINE Chitour, Algeria’s Minister development work might cause additional prob-
of Energy Transition and Renewable Energies, lems, he said.
said last week that he did not support the gov- Specifically, he expressed concern about the
ernment’s plans to push forward with the explo- possibility of damage to the local water table.
ration and development of shale gas reserves. Algeria’s Saharan regions contain around 45
In an interview with Le Soir d’Algérie, Chi- trillion cubic metres of water in subsurface
tour argued that unconventional gas projects reserves, and all local plants and animals are
posed too many environmental and ecological heavily dependent on these reserves, he said.
risks for the country. He also expressed scepticism about the opti-
Algeria’s shale gas fields are in a part of mistic reserve estimates that have led Algeria to
the country that has already been negatively work with outside firms such as the US oilfield
affected by the French government’s nuclear services giant Halliburton to evaluate its shale
weapons tests, and upstream exploration and gas potential.

Week 38 23•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13