Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery as proposed by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
The weekly FEC meeting approved the amount at its virtual meeting held Wednesday and presided by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Nigeria currently imports all its refined petroleum products despite having four refineries.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, who briefed state house correspondents after the meeting said the rehabilitation will be done in three phases.
Mr Sylva said: “The Ministry of Petroleum Resources presented a memo on the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery for the sum of $1.5bn, and that memo was $1.5 billion and it was approved by council today.
“So we are happy to announce that the rehabilitation of productivity refinery will commence in three phases. The first phase is to be completed in 18 months, which will take the refinery to a production of 90 per cent of its nameplate capacity.
“The second phase is to be completed in 24 months and all the final stage will be completed in 44 months and consultations are approved.
“And I believe that this is good news for Nigeria.”
By Abekl Ejikeme