Nigerian government says it will be able to stop petroleum product imports by first quarter of 2024

PETROLEUM resources minister Chief Timipre Sylva has predicted that the federal government will end the practise of importing petrol and other related products into the country by the first quarter of 2024.

Despite being the world's sixth largest crude oil exporter, Nigeria is a major importer of petroleum products because none of her three refineries are currently working. To address the shortage, however, Africa's richest man Alhaji Aliko Dangote  is building a 650,000 barrel per day refinery in Lagos State.

According to Chief Sylva, by the first quarter of 2024 the rehabilitation of the Port-Harcourt refinery would be partly completed while the 650,000 barrel per day capacity Dangote Refinery would also be on stream. He added that the Dangote refinery, the largest single-train refinery in the world with an investment of over $25bn, would also be on stream before the end of 2023 in addition to several modular projects in the country.

Furthermore, the minister disclosed that to ensure local production, the federal government deliberately took out a 20% equity stake in the Dangote refinery. Equally, the minister said the federal government took a 30% equity stake in the 5,000 bpd Walter Smith refinery in Ibigwe, Imo state and the 10,000 bpd Duport Modular Refinery in Edo State.

Chief Sylva said that the government is currently addressing the challenge of access to crude oil being faced by the modular refineries. He also reiterated the position of the federal government that the current oil subsidy regime was no longer sustainable.

According to the minister, the huge funds being spent on subsidies could be deployed to other developmental projects that would impact many Nigerians positively. He added that the removal of subsidy would attract more investment into the petroleum sector as many private people would be willing to invest in building refineries.