...Also CBN Intervention Fund To Boost Operations
An oil sector pressure group, the Crude Oil Refiners’ Association of Nigeria (CORAN), has appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to create crude refinery intervention fund to alleviate the challenges faced by business enterprises in the sector.
CORAN has also called on the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to accord to the body all the incentives and concessions granted to the upcoming Dangote Refinery.
CORAN, which is the umbrella body of indigenous crude oil refiners in the country, said the CBN should consider the oil refining sector as critical like the agriculture and pharmaceutical sectors that are currently enjoying various forms of credit interventions from the Nigerian apex bank.
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For the two sectors, there is the Agricultural Credit Fund and the Pharmaceutical Fund, both domiciled to drive effective business operations in-country.
The association led by its board of Trustee’s chairman, Emmanuel Iheanacho, made the appeal during their visit to the leadership of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) headquarters in Abuja.
The CORAN delegation to NMDPRA was part of an overall initiative aimed at interacting with all relevant regulatory agencies, after CORAN formal registration.
The NMDPRA’s executive director, hydrocarbons processing plants, installation and transportation infrastructure (HPPITI), Mr. Francis Ogaree received the CORAN delegation.
Also speaking, CORAN secretary, Barrister Olusegun Ilori, urged NMDPRA to the extend the same incentives and concessions given to Dangote Refinery to CORAN b authority to ensure that all incentives that were given to Dangote Refinery are also extended to other refineries.
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The association urged NNPC/NMDPRA and NUPRC to engage with the licensed modular refineries in order to develop an appropriate commercial model that would guarantee reliable feedstock
CORAN used the opportunity of the visit to ask for a reduction of the NMDPRA renewal fee of modular refinery license guidelines by 50% as waiver. The refiners’ body however said the waivers and concessions sought should be on company-by-company assessment bases, and not on blanket administration.
The refiners’ association also suggested for periodic monitoring and assessment of modular refineries to be carried out by the Authority to ensure compliance with government operational guidelines
The group said NNPC should consider taking equity or grant loans to modular refineries via the provision of reformer/other requirement units to ensure adequate production of PMS based on agreed offtake conditions.
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They suggested that the issuance of the import duty waivers for modular refinery equipment be done by the federal ministry of finance after due certification of the equipment that qualified for waiver is done by the ministry of petroleum resources.
According CORAN, only modular refinery owners with evidence of feedstock challenge should be given preference in allocation of NNPC crude oil. They also suggested that crude oil from the NNPC be sold to modular refinery owners in naira equivalent for that day with guarantee that all the refined PMS be sold in naira equivalent for that day in-country.
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