- Ibe Kachikwu met with the minister of energy industry and mineral resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
- The minister said Nigeria needed N900 billion to fix refineries
- Kachikwu said Nigeria was targeting countries that could help in the area of refining
The minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu has said that Nigeria needs about N900 billion ($2.5 billion) in order to rehabilitate the country’s refineries.
Leadership reports that the minister spoke in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, April 24, when he met with the minister of energy industry and mineral resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Khalid Al Falih.
Kachikwu said the country needs to make an urgent decision on what it will go with as there were several options on the table.
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He said: “I can’t make a final decision alone in terms of what options to be chosen. In terms of what options are on the table for the refineries, NNPC negotiated with the investors for like one and half years after the president approved. Unfortunately, they couldn’t reach a conclusion for whatever reason. We are obviously going to revisit the discussion. I think that’s the fastest way to go.
“The second option is that we decided that we are going to dip our hands into our own Internal funds- which we don’t have a lot of – and make the money available. What is required is about $2.5billion to rekit the entire refinery and the reason why I don’t want to go that way is the fact that the country is constrained."
Kachikwu said Nigeria’s third option was to target countries that could help out in terms of refining. The minister asserted that the country remains a choice destination due to its resources.
“We are targeting those countries who want to put in investment either on a 100 per cent basis or collaboration with oil companies that have worked with them.
“We want to leverage on the huge success of Saudi government in terms of petroleum. Last year alone, Saudi Aramco, an equivalent of NNPC, made about $200 billion as profits. We have a lot of common ground, historical ties, religious ties and there’s a need to move further. We cooperate a lot with one another in OPEC, especially in the Ministry of Energy.”
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Kachikwu said the country was setting up a team to actualise the plans.
Meanwhile, Kachikwu revealed that the landing cost of petrol is higher than the pump price (N145 per litre) by N35.
Kachikwu further disclosed that the subsidy was brought back due to the rise in global crude oil prices after the 2016 hike.
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