By Adewale Sanyaolu
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and Duport Midstream Company Limited have concluded plans to deliver a 2,500 barrels per day(bpd) modular refinery in Egbokor, Edo State by quarter four of 2021.
The Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, who visited the project site on Friday to assess the progress of work on the fabrication of the tank farms, civil works, pipeline installation and other site preparation works, confirmed that the project had reached 80 per cent completion.
He said the modules for the two Megawatts power plant and the control room were being fabricated and assembled in Lagos for delivery to the site.
The modular refinery is part of the Duport Energy Park conceived to include a 30 million standard cubic feet per day gas processing facility and a power plant.
NCDMB’s partnership with the Duport Energy Park was approved in June 2020 by the Board’s Governing Council chaired by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva. The project is being supported under NCDMB’s commercial ventures programme, which is also in sync with the agency’s vision to serve as a catalyst for the industrialisation of the Nigerian oil and gas industry and its linkage sectors.
Speaking after the site tour, the NCDMB boss commended the contractors for the substantial progress made on the project. He hinted that the operational phase of the refinery would create employment for 100 persons and indirect and induced jobs for about 1500 persons.
He emphasised that the Board’s partnership with Duport Midstream and other investors to develop critical energy facilities were conceived to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s drive to create millions of jobs for the Nigerian populace. He assured that NCDMB was committed to create jobs for Nigerians through its direct projects and partnerships with other project promoters.
According to Wabote, “when the Federal Government enunciated the policy on the development of modular refineries, NCDMB decided to explore ways through which we can build modular refineries to refine products locally. We first partnered with Waltesmith Modular Refinery in Imo State and it is already operational, refining 5000 barrels of crude per day. Azikel Modular Refinery in Bayelsa State is the second one and this Duport project is the third project and we believe that it would be commissioned in the last quarter of this year.”