Subsidy - Refineries to Attain 90 Percent Capacity in 2 Years

This Day

26 December 2011

Subsidy - Refineries to Attain 90 Percent Capacity in 2 Years

As part of the measures to boost local refining capacity and ease the effects of removal of subsidy, the Federal Government has extracted an aggressive programme of 24 months from the original contractors that built the country's refineries to bring them up to 90 per cent capacity utilisation within 24 months.

Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke, stated this in Lagos at the weekend during the Second Town Hall Meeting of the Newspaper Proprietors' Association of Nigeria (NPAN).

She disclosed that under the programme, the contractors would bring back Port Harcourt Refinery to 90 per cent capacity utilisation in the next 12months, followed by Kaduna and Warri refineries.

The minister said the decision to bring back the original contractors was because the Turnaround Maintenance (TAM) had been consistently abused over the years, adding that it was also a demonstration of the seriousness of the present administration.