Modular refinery being developed by Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited (ERPC) with support from the state government is set to earn about $125 million foreign exchange from the exportation of naptha, which is one of the major products from the facility.
ERPC Chairman, Michael Osime, who disclosed this in a statement, said the refinery benefitted from the Federal Government’s ease of doing business programme through which it granted fiscal incentives such as duty waiver on importation of equipment.
The refinery has reached 90 percent mechanical completion and efforts are in top gear to beat a September commissioning deadline, with a team of over 250 locally-recruited engineers, fabricators and other workers engaged on the project.
On expansion, Osime said the company would “meet 18 percent of local demand for diesel and earn in excess of $125 million from export of napha per annum,” noting that the refinery would rejig the state’s economy by attracting feeder industries.
He said the government provided a N700 million project support fund that accelerated the establishment of the company in the state, after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Chinese consortium led by Peiyang Chemical and Equipment Company of China (PCC) and its Nigerian partners, Africa Infrastructure Partners Limited (AIPL).