Nigeria's state oil company says South Korea's Daewoo to fix refinery for $741 mln

DAEWOO ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION

03/02/2023 17:25

ABUJA, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Nigeria's state-owned national
oil company NNPC Ltd has signed a $741 million contract with
South Korean firm Daewoo to modernise a refinery in northern
Kaduna state, NNPC said on Friday.
    The contract was signed on Thursday as part of government
plans to end shortages of fuel in Africa's biggest oil producer.
    Rehabilitation works would last 21 months, Adeyemi Adetunji,
NNPC vice president for downstream operations, said in a
statement sent to Reuters.
    "This project shall be executed in three work packages as a
maintenance service contract," Adetunji said, adding that the
estimated cost ceiling was just under $740.7 million.
    Nigeria relies on imports for its fuel requirements as none
of its four refineries, with a combined refining capacity for
445,000 barrels per day (bpd), is functional.
    Adetunji said the Kaduna refinery, which could process
110,000 bpd at full capacity, was expected to be producing 60%
of its capacity by the fourth quarter of next year.
    "NNPC limited is using a combination of internally generated
revenue and third party financing to execute the repairs of the
refineries," he added.
    Nigeria is in the grips of shortages of petrol, which has
seen motorists spending long hours queuing to fill up their
tanks.
    Last year, NNPC spent about $10 billion to subsidise fuel
imports.
    Apart from the Kaduna refinery, NNPC is also revamping its
facilities in southern Nigeria's Port Harcourt and Warri.
 (Reporting by Camillus Eboh, Editing by MacDonald Dzirutwe and
Ben Dangerfield)
 ((camillus.eboh@thomsonreuters.com;))