Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), has stated that modularization is the quickest approach to solve Nigeria’s energy crisis, while the major refineries are being completely rebuilt.
He specifically praised Waltersmith Group and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for their contributions to the Federal Government’s aim of increasing domestic refining capacity.
The minister expressed his gratitude to the company and the NCDMB for seizing the bull by the horns and beginning local crude refining, thereby meeting a portion of the local need.
Lokpobiri made the remarks on Tuesday during a facility tour at Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited in Ibigwe, Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State, according to a statement issued by NCDMB’s Corporate Communications on Wednesday evening.
“The quickest way to fix our energy challenge in the country should be through modular refineries, while we await the total rehabilitation of the big refineries” , stated the prime minister.
He stated that since its commissioning in 2020, the 5,000-barrel per stream day Waltersmith Petroman has been a consistent supply of diesel, kerosene, naphta, and premium fuel oil to the local market, demonstrating how useful such modest processing plants can be.
Lokpobiri praised the NCDMB for investing in Waltersmith Refinery, which accelerated the completion of the modular refinery.
While praising Waltersmith Group, he urged enterprises who had been granted modular refinery and marginal field licenses to follow Waltersmith’s lead and make careful investments.
“If you have a marginal field, an allocation, it is a piece of paper given to you; it does not add value to you or to Nigeria unless you take it to the next level by making the necessary investment and then adding the value that is expected,” he stated.
“What I am seeing is that out of the numerous marginal fields that were allocated, only Waltersmith and a few of them have been successfully driven,” he said, recalling that at the recent Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) event in Abuja, he warned that marginal field allocations without the necessary investments risk being cancelled.
The minister explained the importance of such a course of action, saying, “It is important that we make this point so that we can retrieve some of those fields to the basket,” in order to reallocate such assets to those who can and will develop and exploit them for the benefit of the industry and the nation.
He announced that he had secured presidential authority to launch a new round of bidding, which would take place soon, pledging that “marginal fields would (henceforth) be prioritised in terms of their location to those who have modular refineries, so that they will be able to produce.”
While recognizing Waltersmith’s exceptional success story and announcing plans for further expansion, Lokpobiri stated, “I can assure you that this Government will do whatever we can to support you so that you can continue to grow.”
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Similarly, he thanked the NCDMB, whose direct involvement through equity participation considerably aided the refinery’s take-off and operations.
In his remarks, NCDMB Executive Secretary Simbi Wabote stated that the board’s choice to engage as an equity holder in Waltersmith was motivated by the company’s sense of mission and excellent organizational structure.
According to him, NCDMB had no hesitation in partnering with Waltersmith “given the very clear corporate governance that is required and exists within the company,” and that “part of our mandate is to enhance development, and we see ourselves as catalysts for the industrialisation of Nigeria.”
“At NCDMB, we are proud of what we have achieved here (at Waltersmith),” he said.
The President and Group Chief Executive Officer of Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, Mr Abdulrasaq Isa, said part of the expansion plans of the company was to raise the capacity of the processing plant from the present 5,000 to 40,000 barrels per stream day, and to be able to produce two million tonnes of petroleum products per annum.
Since its commissioning in 2020, the refinery has provided a total of 600 million liters of petroleum products into the Nigerian market.
