Operators of retail outlets in the downstream sector of the oil industry called on the Federal Government to allow oil marketers run some of the country’s ailing refineries.
Nigeria’s refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri have been dormant in terms of crude oil refining for several years despite huge expenses incurred on the facilities by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
However, Operators of retail outlets in the downstream sector of the oil industry called on the Federal Government to allow oil marketers run some of the country’s ailing refineries.
According to Billy Gillis-Harry, President, PETROAN , he said;
“The government should call on oil marketers to come and take one or two of the refineries, seek financial and technical partners and make the refineries work,”
“We don’t have to predicate our petroleum product prices on international indices. We have four refineries and a few modular refineries that are already on stream now.
“So there should be a way of domesticating our prices, which should be by making sure that we have crude oil available for these refineries to refine and sell domestically first.
“Get PETROAN to run one or two of the refineries because we have the capacity to make sure our refineries work.
“We are offering to partner the government and NNPC to run the refineries on acceptable business strategies and profit sharing processes.”
He said all retail outlet owners in the downstream sector across the country had always wanted the refineries to work and that was what dealers were now asking for.
“We should be given Warri and Port Harcourt refineries and partner government in reviving them, refine crude oil and control our prices, which we can do.”
“If they give them to us to buy we are more than happy to look for resources because we are already talking to technical and financial partners across the globe with the aim of making our country’s economy work,”
Gillis-Harry described refineries as major contributors to economic stability.
“This is because every litre of fuel you buy has the United States dollar on it and we don’t run our economy on dollar, rather it is run on naira,” he said.
He added, “So by introducing a foreign currency at all times, it depletes the resources that should stabilise and grow our economy.
“This is why PETROAN is proposing to the government to give us the refineries to run and we will run them efficiently.”
