Thirty-two refinery project licences issued to private investors in the country have become invalid in the past three years, according to the Department of Petroleum Resources.

Thirty-two refinery project licenses issued to private investors in the country have become invalid in the past three years, according to the Department of Petroleum Resources.

The DPR has said that the number of valid refinery project licenses stood at 23 as of March 2021, down from 44 in April 2018.

An analysis of the agency’s new list of valid refinery project licenses and that of April 2018 showed that 32 licenses had become invalid while 11 new licences were granted between May 2018 and March 2021.

As of April 2018, there were 38 proposed modular refineries with capacity ranging from 5,000 barrels per stream day to 30,000bpsd, and six conventional plants with a total capacity of 1.35 million bpsd.

The DPR had said then that 20 of the licences were active, adding that 24 of the licence holders were still sourcing funds, although most of the licences had expired as of April 2018.

The agency’s updated list showed that the construction of four modular refineries, with a total capacity of 23,000bpsd, had been completed.

GAS
The Federal Government says it would lift no fewer than one hundred million Nigerians out of poverty through the implementation of National Gas Expansion Programme.

The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who spoke in Owerri, the Imo State capital, at the opening ceremony of the NGEP consultative forum, said the Federal Government was committed to giving jobs to millions of young Nigerians.

He said, “Counting the impacts of the programme on the nation’s socioeconomic space within the first year of its launching, the administration further stepped up its commitment to industrialising Nigeria through gas utilisation by declaring year 2021 to 2030 ‘Decade of Gas’.

He said with proven gas reserves of over 200 million cubic feet and natural gas presents an opportunity for the nation to use gas as the catalyst for its socio-economic renaissance.

The minister lauded the Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, whom he said had played a major role in projecting the NGEP.

Sylva, a former governor of Bayalsa State, expressed hope that the programme would have positive effect on the economy of the country.