January 26, 2018

President Muhammadu Buhari says income accruing to the country from rising oil prices in the international market will be spent on the development of infrastructure.

The President said this when he received a delegation from Eni, an oil company led by the Chief Upstream Officer, Mr Antonio Vella at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday.

He said extra funds outside the provision of 2018 budget “will be deployed to infrastructure projects like roads, rail, and power for the good of our people, and for the development of the country.’’

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the 2018 budget proposal was predicated on 45 dollars per barrel by the Executive, and the Senate adjusted it to 47 dollars per barrel.

However, oil prices have presently risen to more than 70 dollars per barrel.

Buhari also appreciated Eni for its upcoming investments in the oil industry, which included rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery, and the building of a new one?

“In my first coming, all our refineries were working. Port Harcourt used to refine 60,000 barrels per day, and it was later upgraded to 100,000 barrels.

“Kaduna and Warri were also working optimally, and we used to satisfy the demand of the local market.

“We equally exported 100,000 barrels of refined petrol. Now, no refinery is performing up to 50 per cent. It is a disgraceful thing.’’

Leader of the Eni delegation, Vella, said his organisation had presented a technical proposal to the NNPC to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt refinery, and also done a feasibility study on a new refinery of up to 150,000 barrels per day capacity.

“Site selection has been completed, and 50 new graduates have already arrived in Italy for a training that will last seven months.

“There are other upstream initiatives, and a deep water project, with estimated expenditure of 13 billion dollars,’’ he said.

According to Vella, the oil company also plans to double power generation capacity from its plant in Delta State from its present 500 MW to 1,000 MW at a cost of about 750 million dollars in the process.