Our refineries can’t be restored soon, says NNPC GMD

Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, has said the country’s moribund refineries cannot be quickly restored.

Kyari spoke in Abuja on Tuesday when he appeared before the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream).

He said the situation was regrettable but the NNPC was making efforts to bring the refineries back to work.

The committee is investigating the increase in prices of diesel and cooking gas.

“The refineries will not come back tomorrow. There is a process going on. We have decided to do a quick fix for the Warri refinery,” the NNPC GMD said.

He said no one could guarantee the security of petroleum supply, adding that countries were preserving excess volume that they had in their kitty.

“The world has never seen this kind of uncertainty. Today countries are stockpiling products. Shortly before COVID-19, the world was already facing a shortfall of 3 million barrels of supply of oil,” Kyari noted.

The NNPC GMD said there had been no control to manage the energy crisis across the world, adding that, “to guarantee energy security means you just make products available at any time and at any cost.”

Kyari disclosed that across the country, making over 200 illegal refineries were being operated.

He said the solution was to restore crude oil production, adding massive intervention was ongoing and by the end of July “we will restore production to a level that is reasonable.”

Kyari added, “Many European countries are asking for rationing gas, they are asking people to alternate their Air Conditioning.

“Today, countries are toying with subsidies because prices are so high because they don’t think they can manage inflation associated with it.”