The Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Kachikwu, has announced that the country is currently in talks with Chevron, Total and Eni, for assistance in refurbishing the outdated refineries in Nigeria.

Nigeria, has been making efforts to resume operations from its nonoperational refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna so as to put an end to its reliance on expensive fuel imports, as fuel scarcity persists in the country.

According to Kachikwu, the country planned to privatize the refineries in 12 months after maintenance works has been completed.

“We have gotten commitments from some of the majors. (Eni's) Agip has indicated interest to work with us on Port Harcourt, Chevron on Warri. We are talking to Total on Kaduna. We are advertising just in case there are better terms out there," he said.

The Minister added that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) was also searching for partners to manage pipelines and fuel depots in form of a joint ventures. He said that NNPC had arrived at a deal with oil majors, to assist in make up for a shortage of dollars, caused by the drop in oil incomes hampering fuel imports.

“The major international upstream oil companies have indicated their willingness to support major oil marketing companies with some of the required foreign exchange. As of today, we have been able to work, in collaboration with the majors...with them to see how they can sell us foreign exchange for the naira components they require for their local operations," he told Reuters.

Anita Fatunji