Minister Lokpobiri Raises Concerns Over Crude Oil Supply for New Refineries

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, expressed concerns over the availability of crude oil for the operation of recently inaugurated refineries in the country.

This marks the third time in the past four months that the minister has publicly addressed the issue, underscoring its significance in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

During the 2024 sector retreat for the ministry held in Abuja under the theme ‘Building Synergy for Enhanced Development in the Oil and Gas Sector,’ Lokpobiri emphasized the need to ramp up production in order to meet the country’s revenue targets and obligations in the mid-stream and upstream sectors.

“The first target is to see how we can ramp up production, and then we can meet our target in terms of increase in revenue, meet our obligation in the mid-stream and upstream,” said Lokpobiri.

The minister also highlighted the potential embarrassment of completing refinery rehabilitations without securing sufficient feed stocks.

“One of the challenges I am afraid of is, if we finish fixing our refineries, we will be unable to get feed stocks,” he added.

In November 2023 and at the Nigeria International Energy Summit in February 2024, Lokpobiri had previously raised the issue of crude oil requirements for the refineries.

He noted that the Dangote refinery alone would need up to 650,000 barrels of crude oil daily, while government-owned refineries would require an additional 450,000 barrels.

Additionally, the minister stressed the importance of a competitive fiscal and regulatory framework to attract investment in the sector.

Nigeria’s declining investments over the past five years have been a cause for concern, with Lokpobiri emphasizing that the country has the lowest investment-to-reserves ratio in the world.

“There is something we are not doing right,” he said.

Addressing the challenges faced by the petroleum sector, Lokpobiri acknowledged the need to tackle issues such as insecurity and pipeline vandalism to attract sustainable investment in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors.

Despite Nigeria’s vast proven gas reserves of over 208 trillion cubic feet (TCf), the country continues to grapple with energy poverty.

This issue was also highlighted by the minister, who emphasized the need for a comprehensive approach to addressing the challenges in the energy sector.

Minister Lokpobiri’s repeated concerns over crude oil supply for new refineries in Nigeria signal the importance of addressing the issue and the potential impact it could have on the country’s energy sector.