The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says the importation of petroleum products into the country will be stopped by mid-2023.

Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer of NNPC Ltd., disclosed this at a press briefing at the State House on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said the combined output of Nigeria’s refineries being revamped and the Dangote refinery would be enough to stop importation.

“So, you will not have a need for the importation of petroleum products into this country by the middle of next year,” he said.

Mr Kyari said, “Even if all the refineries are working today, you will still have a net deficit of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to import into this country.”

He said this was because the country’s population and demand for products had grown.

The NNPC boss said aside from owning 20 per cent equity in Dangote Refinery, NNPC Ltd had the right of first refusal to supply crude oil to that plant.

He expressed optimism that the Dangote Refinery would become operational by the middle of 2023.

According to him, the refinery has a production capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, with different technology.

Mr Kyari said this means “that it can crack the crude in a manner that you can have more gasoline than a typical refinery; that means the refinery has the ability to produce up to 50 million litres of PMS.

“So, the combination of that and our own ability to bring back our refinery will completely eliminate any importation of petroleum products into this country.”

The NNPC boss said he was looking forward to Nigeria becoming a hub of export of petroleum products, not just to the West African region but to the rest of the world.

He said he was upbeat as the flow of supply would change by the middle of 2023.

(NAN)