Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has said the construction of the 5,500 barrels-per-day-(bpd)-capacity Edo Modular Refinery will commence in the next three months.
Obaseki said this at the weekend, during the All Progressives Congress (APC) mega rally at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin, noting that the refinery project was one of the offshoots of his recent business trip to China.
“You can recall that I was in China recently. I went there to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with some Chinese companies.
“We have signed the agreement for the construction of the first modular refinery in this country. The refinery will be located in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of the state. Construction work will commence in three months’ time.”
A 12-month timeline has been set for the first phase of the project, after necessary approvals from the relevant regulatory authorities.
The governor said the project is geared towards delivering his promise of 200,000 jobs in the state, adding that one of the biggest industrial parks in Nigeria will also be constructed in the state.
The governor signed an MoU with a Chinese consortium that is made up of Peiyang Chemical Equipment Company of China (PCC), a world leading modular refinery company; Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation (SIPS) which is a subsidiary of Sinopec, the top chemical giant in the world and African Infrastructure Partners (AIP), a Nigerian infrastructure company.
Governor Obaseki expressed delight at the local content component of the deal, which will ensure that Edo citizens are trained in welding, refinery operation and fabrication works to enable them participate in the construction of the refinery as well as its operation, post-commissioning.