He made this known during an interaction with members of the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) in Abuja on Tuesday.

“Apart from the completion of the plant equipment inspection and integrity study conducted since December 2019 as part of the phase one of the Port Harcourt refinery rehabilitation, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on December 1, 2020, opened bids for the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the rehabilitation of the refinery,” he said.

Sylvia said that in 2018, the ministry unveiled the Refinery Rehabilitation Roadmap aimed at boosting the country’s local refining capacity and transforming the country from being a net exporter of petroleum products to a net exporter of the commodity.

“Under the Roadmap, the existing refineries were to be rehabilitated, Greenfield Refineries developed and Modular Refining co-located.

“Pursuant to the Roadmap, the ministry had continued to collaborate with the private sector to increase the country’s domestic refining capacity by issuing five licenses and permits for refineries with combine refining capacity of over 623,000 barrels of oil per day to be completed latest by 2021.

“They include the over 600,000 barrels per day capacity Dangote Refinery; the 10,000 BPD Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Refinery (NDPR); the 7000 BPD OPAC Refinery; the 5,000 BPD Waltersmith Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited and the 1,000 BPD Edo Refinery.

“The construction of the Dangote Refinery project is progressing despite the force majeure declared on some of the contracts due to the COVID-19 disruptions,” Sylva said.

He also said that transparency and accountability has remained the corner piece of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership of the petroleum industry.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Malam Mele Kyari, said that NNPC has published the financial status for 2018 and 2019 in line with the corporation’s commitment to transparency and accountability.

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President, Femi Adesina, said in spite of the pandemic challenges several milestones were recorded in the oil and gas sector.

Also, The President of the NGE, Mr. Mustapha Isah, commended the president and his cabinet for development in the oil and gas sector.

He also said the year was about to end well with the availability of fuel. (NAN)