16-03-01 Commissioned by a local company, Amakpe International Refinery, Nigeria's first privately owned refinery is expected to refine 12000 bpd of crude oil by the end of this year. It will be located near the ExxonMobil crude oil terminal in Eket, Akwa Ibom state, southeast Nigeria. The refinery, being built at a cost of more than $ 100 m, will produce paraffin, jet fuel, diesel and petrol, currently in short supply in the west African state. The construction is being handled by Ventech, an engineering firm based in Texas.
A company source disclosed that the proposed refinery would directly employ at least 500 people. "Indirectly, it will generate employment in the thousands, as the refinery products are pushed into the local market. We will be encouraging the setting up of retail outlets, to enable distributors to take direct delivery of our products," he said. The source said that Ventech would build the refinery in prefabricated modules and ship them to Nigeria in time for the scheduled December start-up.

The government's approval of the refinery is seen as a clear indication that it is pushing ahead with its highly controversial plan to deregulate the volatile petroleum sub sector, a move that is being resisted by many Nigerians, including the labour movement. It is feared the deregulation will increase prices of goods and services and set the country on another round of inflation.
Although Nigeria has four refineries with a combined production capacity of more than 250,000 bpd, the plants are old and unable to meet local demand. The Nigerian government has for some time been forced to import refined petroleum products to supplement local production.