…As Waltersmith, NCDMB invest in refinery
Buoyed by the need to ensure that Nigeria attains self sufficiency in its energy needs, Waltersmith Refining and Petrochemical Company will in the next two weeks add 271 million litres to Nigeria’s refining capacity.
The project, according to the promoters is scheduled for commissioning in late September / Early October 2020.
The initiative is to be achieved between Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited (70 per cent equity) and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) 30 per equity.
The first phase of the 5,000 barrels per day (bpd) modular refinery located in Imo State will make use of Waltersmith own operated crude as feedstock with alternative sources including the over 7,000 bopd NNPC/SEPLAT OML-53 JV Ohaji South production processed at Waltersmith’s Ibigwe Flow station.
Negotiations on crude sales and purchase agreements are at an advanced stage with both SEPLAT and NNPC.
Minister of Information and Culture, Mr.Lai Mohammed alongside other dignitaries were last week on a pre-commissioning tour of the refinery.
The 5,000 bpd Phase 1 refinery was to be commissioned in Q2 2020, an achievement that would
have resulted in 18 months projection completion timeline the project has been adjudged by stakeholders to be among the fastest in the world.
By March 2020, the refinery had progressed to 98 per cent completion, but was delayed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Commissioning is now planned for late September / Early October 2020 and the
The Phase one of the refinery is expected to about 271 million liters of refined petroleum products
which included Diesel, Kerosene, Heavy Fuel Oil-HFO and Naphtha) per annum.
With the exceptional planning and execution of this first Phase of the refinery, Waltersmith
initiated the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for the 25,000 bpd Phase two condensate
refinery and the 20,000 bpd Phase three refinery to maximize feedstock from the nearby ANOH
Gas Plant Company (AGPC) and some additional Commercial discussions were progressed on
some nearby oil and gas assets, with the investments proposed by Waltersmith to develop the
oil assets to be used as feedstock for the 20,000 bpd refinery (and the gas assets for the 300MW
Ugamma Gas Power Plant, both enormously strategic to the domestic energy security strategy
of Waltersmith and aspirations of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
FEED for the 25,000 bpd Phase two condensate refinery was completed in Q1 2020, Feasibility
study in Q2 2020 and the EPCIC Contracting process has been initiated with Final Investment
Decision(FID) planned for Q4 2020 and delivery by Q4 2022.
The groundbreaking ceremony will be done in conjunction with the commissioning of the 5,000 bpd Phase ONE Refinery in September /October 2020.
When completed the Phase two will deliver about 1.4 billion liters per year of refined
petroleum products (Premium Motor Spirit – PMS, Diesel, Kerosene, Aviation Jet Fuel and HFO)
in addition to the 271 million liters from the Phase one.
Critical to the success of these projects according to the promoters is the Federal Government’s support, through NNPC, to conclude on advanced discussions to grant Waltersmith access to nearby condensate feedstock in Assa North / Ohaji and to invest in developing some nearby fields, within 30-km of the Ibigwe marginal Field, through some commercial arrangement to enable the growth of currentproduction from less than 10,000 bopd to over 30,000 bopd.
