Newly launched Nigerian refinery announces date for implementation of phase 2

Abdulrazaq Isa, the chairman of Waltersmith Group, has said the company is working on ensuring that the implementation of the phase two project of the Waltersmith Refinery comes on board.

He said this during the recent official visit and tour by the minister of state for petroleum resources (oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, to the refinery project site located in Imo state.

This comes days after the modular refinery owned by Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited began operations to produce 600 million litres of different types of products.

Refinery to increase capacity

According to a Leadership report, the company plans to take its capacity from 5,000 barrels of crude oil daily to 10,000 bpd, which comes on stream.

He said: "We have customers from as far as Sokoto and from all over the country. It is obvious to us that the current capacity is so limited. That is why we are working very hard to conclude the next phase and ramp up the capacity. We expect the Phase Two to come onstream by June 2025."

Isa added that the refinery plans to attain 40,000bpd capacity in the shortest possible time.

Oladapo Filani, CEO of Waltersmith Petroman Oil, in a presentation, said: "Between the Final Investment Decision (FID) and coming on stream of the Phase One project was between 18 – 24 months and we see ourselves reproducing that for Phase Two, which is a replica and an improvement on the learnings of what we achieved with Phase One."

With resounding confidence in the Waltersmith Refinery's operations, Lokpobiri promised the government's complete support for the refinery project's growth plans.