The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), has issued an operational licence to the Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited, Ologbo in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State.
Issuance of operational licence is the final stage of approval from the regulator which gives authority to fully operate as a refinery.
At the licence issuing ceremony, the chief executive officer of of NMDPRA, Ahmed Farouk, handed the certificate to AIPCC, the parent company of Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited (ERPCL), which was received by the refinery Head, Technical Operations, Segun Okeni. Farouk commended the company for attaining the feat and enjoined it to do more.
On his part, the NMDPRA executive director, Hydrocarbon Processing Plant Installation and Transport Infrastructure (HPPITI), Francis Ogaree, assured management of the refinery that the regulatory authority is a business enabler and will be ready to give AIPCC Energy/Edo Refinery all the necessary support in all its projects.
In his remarks on behalf of AIPCC Energy, the head, Technical Operations of Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited, Segun Okeni, said the company is out there to make her contributions to the petroleum refining and gas processing subsector.He disclosed that AIPCC is developing three other projects and one of such would be completed in the next one year.
Okeni explained that the operational licence is the final stage of approval from NMDPRA, which implies that the plant can now fully operate as a refinery.
“It starts from License to Establish (LTE), Licence to Construct (LTC), Approval to introduce Hydrocarbon, pre-commissioning and commissioning, operate the refinery for some time to ensure it has the capacity to do so and finally the Licence to Operate LTO”, adding that the refinery is finalising arrangements with an indigenous oil company to access crude oil for optimal production capacity.
“We are finalising a major crude supply agreement with an indigenous oil company. Although the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and NMDPRA have been supportive, once we find a source of crude they will normally give us urgent approval. However with this licensing, NUPRC ought to consider existing local refineries in the bidding round for marginal field”, he stated.
