‘Refineries Can’t Be Restored Soon”-Mele Kyari

Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has stated that the country’s dormant refineries cannot be quickly restored.

Kyari told the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) in Abuja on Tuesday that the situation was regrettable, but that the NNPC was working hard to get the refineries back up and running.

The committee is looking into the rise in diesel and cooking gas prices.

“The refineries will not come back tomorrow. There is a process going on. We have decided to do a quick fix for the Warri refinery,” the NNPC boss said.

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He said no one could guarantee the security of petroleum supply, adding that countries were preserving excess volume that they had in their kitty.

He said, “The world has never seen this kind of uncertainty. Today countries are stockpiling products. Shortly before COVID-19, the world was already facing a shortfall of 3 million barrels of supply of oil.”

The GMD said there had been no control to manage the energy crisis across the world, adding that, “to guarantee energy security means you just make products available at any time and at any cost.”

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He revealed that over 200 illegal refineries were operating across the country.

He said the solution was to restore crude oil production, adding massive intervention was ongoing and by the end of July “we will restore production to a level that is reasonable.”

Kyari added, “Many European countries are asking for rationing gas, they are asking people to alternate their Air Conditioning.

“Today, countries are toying with subsidies because prices are so high because they don’t think they can manage inflation associated with it.”