All eyes are on the Dangote refinery, currently being constructed by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote and expected to begin operation in 2019.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Kachikwu (photo), has come out to say that Nigeria’s four refineries may become useless once the Dangote’s refinery begins operation.

This is coming after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said at the beginning of this month that the refinery will drive refining capacity increase in Africa, by 2020.

Kachikwu who spoke at the stakeholders’ consultative forum on the draft National Gas Policy and National Oil Policy in Abuja on Thursday, went on to say that the country’s refineries must be renovated within the shortest possible time to avoid such occurrence.

“Refineries will have to work. It is really not an option anymore. And not only should they work, they have to work very quickly. The reality is that if we do not privatize and we do not concede them, which is not what we are doing now, then we have a responsibility to find private capital to get them to where they should be. This is because if we do not get them to work, in 2019, I can assure you that if the Dangote system works well, we will have scraps, we won’t have refineries, because by then it will be too late to do anything,” he said.

He urged stakeholders to collaborate in bringing the cost of production in the industry to a reasonable and manageable level, adding that crude oil was still being produced at $27 per barrel in the country.

According to him, this production cost is high as no country will produce at that amount at a period when the oil price is unstable.

“We are going to try to get those figures below $18 per barrel,” he said.

Anita Fatunji