Kaduna Refinery will operate commercially, optimally – NNPC GMD

Emmanuel Thomas, Lagos

September 10, 2015 – The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has assured that the corporation will provide all the necessary enablers to make Kaduna Refining Petrochemical Company (KRPC) operate commercially and optimally.

Kachikwu gave this assurance during a facility tour of the refinery in Kaduna. He noted that the refinery will soon experience a turn around that will make it to be commercially sustainable.

“You will soon have a different company, we must do all it takes to make this company a success”, the GMD stated, while addressing staff of the KRPC.

According to him, all the component units of the refinery including the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) as well as the fuel section will be fully rehabilitated for resumption of crude supply to the plant.

“We must make the FCCU and the fuel section to work in the next three months so that Nigerians will continue to enjoy uninterrupted supply of petroleum products”, he said.

Addressing Management and staff in a town hall meeting after the tour, the GMD said: “A lot of energy is being invested to give an accelerated face lift to the refinery”, adding that no stone would be left unturned in his determination to put the plant on the path of profitability.

The GMD pointed out that though the current challenges militating against the operations of the refineries are huge, they are not insurmountable.

He praised the vision and foresight of past Nigerian leaders for establishing the refineries and challenged the present generation to sustain the vision, adding that all hands must be on deck to salvage the situation.

He further disclosed that in view of the nation’s low refining capacity, there was need to establish more refineries in the country.

“I am pushing to build new refineries next to our existing plants in order to boost the nation’s refining capacity for the common good”, Dr. Kachikwu stated, explaining that the new refineries will be developed by private investors and that NNPC’s role will be just to provide them with space close to the existing refineries to enable them share key facilities such as pipelines and storage facilities.

The NNPC GMD promised to undertake periodic visits to the refineries in order to galvanize the process of bringing them to optimal level of efficiency.

In his remarks, the Group Executive Director, Refining & Technology, Engr. Dennis Ajulu, expressed optimism in the ability of the NNPC to rise above its challenges and reposition itself on the path of profitability.

On his part, the Managing Director of KRPC, Engr. Saidu Mohammed, said staff of the company were fully aligned to the vision of commercialisation and that they would support the GMD in that drive.

The GMD went on an inspection tour of the Port Harcourt and Warri Refineries last week.