Nigerian refineries risk competition to Dangote- Kachikwu warns

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has urged the Federal Government to speed up the rehabilitation of refineries or lose competition to Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote.

Kachikwu made this call at a stakeholders’ consultative forum on the draft National Gas Policy and National Oil Policy in Abuja.

The Minister expressed huge concern over the fast pace Dangote Refinery has developed and warned the Government to make sure the four refineries are running in the shortest time possible.

He also added that Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries may be worthless in three years’ time pending the completion of Dangote's refinery.

Kachikwu's words: “Refineries will have to work. It is really not an option anymore. And not only should they work, they have to work very quickly. The reality is that if we do not privatize and we do not concede them, which is not what we are doing now, then we have a responsibility to find private capital to get them to where they should be.

“This is because if we do not get them to work, in 2019, I can assure you that if the Dangote system works well, we will have scrap, we won’t have refineries, because by then it will be too late to do anything.”

The Minister also urged stakeholders to lower the cost of production in the sector, adding that the high cost of production pegged at at $27 per barrel was outrageous.