Dangote Refinery, an indigenous refining company, yesterday, listed seven points, capable of enabling Nigeria to stimulate investment and stability in the downstream sector.
The seven points included increased private sector enterprise, competitive investment regime, government policy shift, fuel subsidy elimination, introduction of calibrated fuel taxation, reduction of interest rates to single digit regime and diligent monitoring to bring about sustainable development.
The company noted that the nation’s downstream is currently constrained by lack of private investment and limited infrastructure, which constrained the government from meeting domestic demand for petroleum products.
It also noted that the increased importation of products has resulted in the drain of its foreign exchange, which could have been utilized to execute projects and programmes.
The Technical Consultant, Dangote Industries Limited, Engr. B Soyode, who disclosed this while speaking on, “Dangote Refinery – Game Changer of the Downstream Industry” at the Nigerian Content Midstream/Downstream oil and Gas Summit in Lagos, said that the situation will change for good when its 650,000 barrels per day, bpd plant comes on stream.
Recently, the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, had applauded Dangote Petroleum Refinery for its application of world-class technology in the construction of the refinery.
The SPE and NCDMB, which came on a tour of the petroleum refinery project recently, believed that the refining facility is capable of redefining Nigeria’s domestic fuel production.
They had also noted that completion of the gigantic project will secure the future of young engineers in Nigeria and put them at par with their counterparts in the global oil and gas industry.
