Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, yesterday disclosed that Nigeria is the only member country in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that imports petrol and is currently the largest importer of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the world.
Baru disclosed this when he spoke at the 2018 Oloibiri Lecture Series (OLEF). The OLEF, organised annually by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Nigeria Council, in commemoration of the first oil well drilled in Nigeria at Oloibiri in Bayelsa State in 1956, brings together key industry players to chart the right path for the oil sector. Represented by the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Upstream in NNPC, Bello Rabiu,bARU
“As we speak today, Nigeria is the only OPEC country that imports petrol and we are the largest importer of PMS in the world. We actually import one million tonnes of PMS every month into a country that produces oil and gas and has refinery. It is a shameful thing, it doesn’t make sense and that is what we are trying to address,” he said
Baru blamed the large scale of importation on the poor utilization of Nigeria’s refineries. He said the corporation was working to address these challenges with the imminent announcement of investors who would bring in funding for the repair of the plants.
“Upgrades of our refineries from the current name plate capacity of 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) to at least 1million bpd is the focus. Discussions with relevant investors and financiers are ongoing. The expectation is that the refineries will be fully back on stream by December 2019,” he said
