The Federal Government has decided to build more refineries in the country. The development came after the current administration reversed the sale of the two Port-Harcourt refineries and the one at Kaduna.

The Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Abubakar Yar'Adua, dropped hints of this new policy direction while receiving officials of the Ministry of Energy from Uganda, in Abuja.

Yar'Adua explained that the new policy would assist the country in actualising its plan to be the hub for petroleum products supply in the continent. According to him, additional refineries would go a long way to satisfy domestic consumption and generate more revenue for the country, since the available ones are currently producing at different levels in effectiveness.

The existing refineries, with installed production capacity of 445,000 barrels per day (bpd), are currently processing about 360,000bpd, which could have translated to 10.47 million litres a day. The daily domestic consumption in the country currently stands at 30 million litres. Besides, he told the visitors that the nation's oil and gas industry was undergoing reforms, aimed at repositioning the sector for better performance. After the restructuring, he said the NNPC would be able to source for funds and execute its projects and declare dividend to its shareholders.

"The reform in the industry is in line with government's desire to make NNPC function purely as a profit oriented, commercial and duly capitalised limited liability company, with mandate to raise funds for its projects and operations, just like its peers around the world,'' Yar'adua said. According to him, the NNPC is pursuing the issue of local content in the industry, aimed at domesticating the "industry spending'', which is in line with government's desire to boost the economy.

The GMD described the Ugandan team's visit to share the NNPC experience as timely, since the East African country just discovered hydrocarbon resources in commercial quantity. With the discovery, he noted that the relationship between the NNPC and Uganda would flourish in the long run.

To this end, he advised the officials to prioritise the issue of local content, as well as building refineries from the onset, so as to avoid the mistakes of sister countries that have hydrocarbon resources.

Earlier, the Head of the Ugandan delegation, Mr. Mbabazi Araali, informed the GMD that they were in the country to learn about the activities of the NNPC, in order to be in a better position to handle the newly created Ugandan Oil and Gas Company.