President, Muhammadu Buhari has commissioned a 5,000 barrels per day (BPD) Modular Refinery in Ibigwe, Imo State.
The facility, which is the first of a three-phase project, will deliver about 271 million litres of refined petroleum products, diesel, kerosene, heavy fuel Oil-HFO and Naphtha per annum.
The project, which is being championed by Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, is developed by Waltersmith Refining and Petrochemical Company, a Joint venture (JV) between Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited (70 per cent equity) and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), with 30 per cent equity.
In February, Waltersmith announced that it had surveyed 500 hectares of land, out of which it had acquired 65 hectares of land for the park, on which it proposes to build a Power Plant.
The company also claimed receiving an electricity generation license from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in 2017 to develop a 300MW gas fired plant at the Ugamma Gas Power Plant to be located in the same energy industrial complex as the refinery and the flow station in the Ibigwe field.
The company further noted the power plant will utilise processed gas largely from third parties operating gas fields that are within proximity with the Ibigwe field, adding it will then supply the power to nearby industries as well as industries who come to situate themselves in that industrial park
During the virtual ceremony, Buhari said the 5,000 barrels per day Waltersmith Modular Refinery in Ibigwe, Imo State, would be expanded 50,000 barrels per day.
