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Refineries: Reps Call For Forensic Audit Of N11.34trn Spent On Rehabilitation

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The House of Representatives has demanded forensic audit of all rehabilitation projects at Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries.

The demand followed the consideration of the recommendations of a report by its ad-hoc committee on the state of refineries and the need to ascertain the actual daily consumption of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol, in Nigeria.

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It will be recalled that the consideration of the report was deferred when presented last week because the chairman of the committee of the whole and deputy speaker, Ahmed Idris-Wase, last week told the committee chaired by Ganiyu Johnson to give clear cut recommendations based on its specific mandate.

Re-presenting the report at plenary, yesterday, Johnson said the findings of the committee revealed that the rehabilitation of the three refineries had cost the nation N11.35 trillion in 13 years, beginning from 2010.

READ ALSO: Fuel Subsidy Hits N1.593tn, Refinery Rehabilitation Gulps N54.66bn

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He said the refineries became unproductive from 2010, making a range of losses, with Port Harcourt put at 7.6 per cent losses to the tune of N132.52 billion from 2012; Warri at 6 per cent losses amounting to N111.37 billion from 2014 and Kaduna at 10 per cent losses to the tune of N122.62 billion from 2014.

The report stated that from 2010 to 2019, the refineries performed sub-optimally, with an annual combined capacity of less than 30 per cent.

According to the report, the NNPC obtained an executive approval and shutdown the refineries for comprehensive rehabilitation to restore the plants to a maximum of 90 per cent utilisation.

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The report said total losses from the non-functional refineries since 2010 were placed at N366.52 billion, while the total cost of operations and running them from 2010–2020 stood at N4.80 trillion.

READ ALSO: Nigeria, Others Need $7.5bn To Deepen LPG Usage – Refiners

It further indicated that subsidy payments totalling N5.9 trillion was made from 2010 to 2020.

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The committee, however, recommended that the NNPCL fast tracked the rehabilitation programme of the refineries empowered by the legislative intent for a deregulated business environment and restore the refineries to a minimum 90 per cent nameplate capacity utilisation.

Vanguard reports that the committee also recommended that NNPCL and the contractor (Tecnimont SPA of Italy) be urged to ensure that phase one of the rehabilitation works in Refinery Area 5 of the Old Port Harcourt Refinery, OPHR, with the processing capacity of 60,000 barrels per day earlier expected to be restored to 54,000 barrels per day of processing capacity representing 90 per cent capacity utilization by March, 2023, should unfailingly meet the new target date of September, 2023.

READ ALSO: Probe Missing $2.1bn, N3.1trn Of Subsidy Payments Or Face Legal Action, SERAP Tells Tinubu

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It asked that a bank (names withheld) refund to the nation the total sum of US$438,012.44 paid them as retainer fees from 2017-2018 as the financing advisory contract for the rehabilitation of the three refineries was not successful and was suspended due to the financing consortia not reaching agreeable terms for the transaction with the NNPC.

Other recommendations include “that the NNPCL and the Contractor (Tecnimont SPA of Italy) be further urged to ensure that phase two of the rehabilitation works in Refinery Areas 1&2 of the New Port Harcourt Refinery (NPHR), with an installed capacity of 150,000 barrels per day be restored to the estimated processing capacity of 135,000 barrels per day.”
VANGUARD

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NNPCL Increases Fuel Price

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, has increased the pump price of premium motor spirit across its retail outlets.

It was gathered that NNPCL retail outlets in Abuja have adjusted their fuel pump price to N955 per litre from N890.

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This is the case in NNPCL retail outlets along Kubwa Expressway, Wuse and other parts of Abuja.

READ ALSO:Fuel Station Manager, Three Others Arrested For Robbery

Similarly, the pump price hike has been implemented at filling stations in Kogi and Nasarawa.

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This means that the petrol pump price was increased by N65.

This comes after independent petroleum product marketers and filling station owners in Abuja increased petrol pump prices to between N950 and N971 per litre at the weekend. Their decision followed an upward review of the ex-depot petrol price by Dangote Refinery to N858 per litre, up from N820.

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Naira Appreciates Against Dollar As External Reserves Swell

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The naira appreciated against the dollar at the official foreign exchange market on Monday to begin the week on a bullish note amid swelling external reserves.

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s exchange data, the naira appreciated to N1,531.95 against the dollar on Monday from N1,533.74 traded last week Friday.

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READ ALSO:Naira Continues To Appreciate Against Dollar On Official Market

This showed that the Naira strengthened by N1.79 when compared to the N1,533.74 exchanged at the close of work last week.

Meanwhile, at the black market, the naira remained stable at N1560 per litre, the same exchange rate traded on Friday.

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The development comes as Nigeria’s external reserves had maintained a modest rise to $39.54 billion as of August 1st, 2025, up from $39.36 billion on July 30th.

 

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Naira Continues To Appreciate Against Dollar On Official Market

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The naira continued its appreciation against the dollar at the foreign exchange market on Tuesday.

Accordingly, the naira strengthened further to N1,533.18 against the dollar on Tuesday, from N1,534.21 traded the previous day.

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This represents a gain of N1.03 against the dollar on a day-to-day basis and marks the second consecutive day of appreciation at the official FX market.

READ ALSO:Woman Arrested For Killing, Selling Pregnant Nurse’s Body Parts

Meanwhile, on the black market, the naira depreciated further to N1,545 per dollar on Tuesday from N1,537 traded on Monday.

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Recall that the naira had similarly closed Monday’s trading session with mixed sentiments, recording gains at the official market but depreciating at the parallel market.

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