The Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, has expressed satisfaction with the level of detailed engineering work and accomplishment deployed in the development of the Azikel Refinery.
He said having achieved 60 per cent completion of the OSBL and the ISBL, Azikel Refinery was the first hydro-skimming refinery near completion in Nigeria among over 26 licensed modular refineries by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Minister, who stated this in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, after a physical tour and inspection of the Azikel Refinery, a subsidiary of the Azikel Group, stressed that he was committed to the reversal of the status of net importation of refined products into Nigeria, noting that the hydro-skimming plant is a complete refinery that would support the federal government in attaining self-sufficiency in refined products, such as petrol, diesel, aviation fuel and LPG, which is of utmost importance to the country and its economic prosperity.
“The Azikel Refinery will create the export of refined products from Bayelsa State to the rest of Nigeria, producing daily 1.5million litres of petrol and 1million litres of diesel and 500,000 litres of kerosene and aviation fuel, thereby reversing the stigma of Nigeria as a net importer of refine products, despite being the 5th largest producer of crude oil in the world.”
The Minister said Buhari’s dream to industrialise the Niger Delta in the area of infrastructure and employment was being actualised by the Azikel Refinery through the additional workforce and skills that would be employed in the refinery, as well as the multiplier value chain of several job opportunities that would be created for Nigerians.
Sylva commended the strategic role of the NDCMB in the development of the project, as well as the participation of the NNPC, NAOC, Total and SPDC’s commitment for the supply of feedstock for the refinery.
