Buhari hopes to significantly reduce the country’s dependence on expensive gasoline imports brought in via an expensive graft-ridden subsidy scheme and crude-for-product swap contracts that are being investigated for potentially short-changing the government.
The 125,000 bpd Warri refinery was the first to ramp up in early July and is expected to run at about 60,000 bpd, the head of NNPC refining said earlier this month.
The Port Harcourt Refining Co consists of two plants but only the newer one has resumed and will run at about 90,000 bpd of its 150,000 bpd capacity.
Most of Nigeria’s refining capacity is in the oil-rich delta region but it has a northern plant in Kaduna, expected to restart towards the end of August. Only one of its two crude distillation units will run at about 30,000 bpd as the other requires foreign crude oil.
Combined output is expected to supply 8 million liters per day of gasoline or 20 percent of domestic demand in the near term.
The older plant at Port Harcourt with a 60,000 bpd is expected to restart towards year end, the NNPC source said.
Further ramp-ups will be hampered by dilapidated infrastructure. A 2012 report by the National Refineries Special Taskforce, citing consulting firm Aon Energy Risk Engineering, said nearly $9 billion would be needed to repair the supply and distribution chain across the country.
