The 5,000BOPD Facility is on schedule for inauguration in May 2020
The leadership of Waltersmith Petroman carried out a site visit of the Watersmith Modular Refinery, under construction in southeastern Nigeria, with Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea as its guest.
Developed by Waltersmith Petroman Oil in partnership with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, the modular refinery (5,000BOPD), embodies efforts of Africa’s oil producing countries, outside industrialized South Africa, Egypt and Algeria, to generate local value by refining their own crude at home.
As a rule, African hydrocarbon producers, with the exception of those three countries listed above, import most of their petroleum products. In 2018, Nigeria’s crude oil output was around 500,000Barrels of Oil Per Day (BOPD) higher than the output of the closest African rival, Angola, and yet 80% of the petroleum products consumed in the country were imported.
The Waltersmith refinery is on schedule for inauguration in May 2020, at a time when its phase 2 will take Final Investment Decision, to boost refining capacity from 5,000BOPD to 30,000BPD.
The refinery is also a path opener for many Nigerian operators of marginal fields, demonstrating how the exploitation of smaller assets such as Waltersmith’s Ibigwe field can generate value from upstream to downstream and help African nations meet their energy security agenda.
“I am truly impressed by the nature and advancement of this project,” declared Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima during his visit of the site. “I share our industry’s belief that it is high time for Africans to start refining and processing our own crude at home to maximize our energy security, create local jobs and add value to our economies. Creating the right public-private partnerships will be of great benefit to all of countries and business leaders. I salute Waltersmith Petroman for the work they do here.”
-Adapted from a press release by African Energy Chamber, which is backed by the Equatorial Guinea Government.
