The Federal Government is working towards ending crude oil exports as Nigeria expands its refining capacity and seeks to transform the country into a major hub for refined petroleum products in Africa.
The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Rabiu Umar, disclosed this on Monday at the 49th Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers Nigeria Council in Lagos.
Umar said Nigeria’s expanding refining capacity meant the country should increasingly process its crude locally rather than export the raw commodity. He said the development of new private and modular refineries was rapidly transforming Nigeria from a crude oil exporter and importer of refined petroleum products into a regional refining hub.
“The fact that today, we have more refining capacity in Nigeria than we’ve ever had. And, of course, with the projects that are on stream and the expansions that we are also going to witness in the coming years, clearly Nigeria is going to turn into a refining hub for Africa, which means that perhaps every single molecule of our three million barrels a day production that we hope to achieve in the next couple of years will actually be refined locally.
