The senate has assured Nigerians that the three government-owned refineries will begin full operations by December 2024.
According to the Vice Chairman of the Senate committee on Petroleum Downstream sector, Senator Jide Ipinsagba, who is representing Ondo North Senatorial District, the retrofitting of the Kaduna, Warri, and Port Harcourt refineries was already at the completion stage.
Ipinsagba, who also states that the Dangote refinery in Lagos State will soon begin the refining of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, known as petrol, expressed the satisfaction of the committee during the on-the-spot assessment as an oversight function for the refineries.
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He added that the completion of these refineries will enable the country to meet its domestic fuel demand and to ensure that internal consumption is no longer a challenge to Nigerians.
The lawmaker maintained that the refined petroleum products would be exported after internal consumption had been met.
Senator Jide Apinsagba said;
“Effort is on top gear to ensure that all the refineries are functioning before the end of this year. We have done oversight of all the refineries, and we have good promises from them based on what we saw there.
“Port Harcourt refinery today has about 90 to 95 percent optimisation in terms of retrofitting. Warri is almost about 80 percent, and Kaduna is almost about 70 percent.
“Dangote refinery is ready to operate any moment from now on. With all this, internal consumption of fuel will not be a problem, and we will have the opportunity to also export our refined oil.
“We also find out to that we have the opportunity to export our oil, that will also improve our exchange rate because we have started exportation, that is all about refinery, we are expecting the refinery to kickstart before the end of this year”
