Petroleum Minister threatens to cancel idle modular refinery licences

The federal government has said it will crack down on and cancel licenses of modular refinery license holders who are non-active since approved to operate.

Heineken Lokpobiri, minister of state for petroleum resources (oil), said that Nigeria has a lot of modular refineries that have been given licenses but the challenge has been the feedstock.

He made this known while fielding questions from journalists at the end of the three-day ministerial retreat at the State House conference centre, in Abuja.

Lokpobiri noted that unless we produce sufficient quantities, even with the refineries rehabilitated there will be no feedstock.

He also noted that the present challenge is to ramp up production so that the big refineries and the modular refineries who are the real employers of labour will do the magic.

According to the minister, the easiest way to get out of the country’s petrol crisis is to increase production, stating that “if we don’t, the midstream and downstream will also fail must produce the crude to refine before distribution”

On the rehabilitation of the country’s refineries, he said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited will be held accountable for that development.