The management of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has issued operational licence to Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited, Ologbo in Ikpoba-Okha local government area of Edo State.
NMDPRA is the Technical and Commercial Regulator of Midstream and Downstream Operations in the petroleum industry.
Issuance of operational licence is the final stage of approval from the regulatory authority, implying that the plant can now fully operate as a refinery.
The authority’s Chief Executive Officer, Ahmed Farouk in a ceremony, handed the certificate over to AIPCC, the parent company of Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited (ERPCL).
Farouk, who was accompanied by the Executive Director (ED), NMDPRA, Hydrocarbon Processing Plant Installation and Transport Infrastructure (HPPITI), Mr Francis Ogaree, handed over the operational licence to the refinery Head, Technical Operations, Segun Okeni.
During the handover, the CEO of NMDPRA, commended the company for attaining this feat and enjoined the firm to do more.
On his part, the NMDPRA Executive Director, assured the 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.
Responding on behalf of AIPCC Energy, Okeni said the company is established to make her contributions to the petroleum refinery and gas processing subsector.
He disclosed that already, AIPCC is developing three other projects, one of such, he said would be completed in the next one year.
Okeni in a statement in Benin-City on Tuesday which was made available to journalists, explained that the operational licence is the final stage of approval from the regulatory authority, which he said, implies that the plant can now fully operate as a refinery.
According to him, “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.”
Against the backdrop of alleged none allocation of crude from the NNPCL, Okeni revealed 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, but once we find a source of crude they will normally give us urgent approval.
“However with this licencing, NUPRC ought to consider existing local refineries in the bidding round for marginal field”, he said.
