Penultimate week, a multi-billion Naira oil refinery owned by Dr Eruani Azibapu Godbless, was launched at Obunagha in Bayelsa State. Our correspondent, Amos Okioma, who was present reports that former president Olusegun Obasanjo; Governor Seriake Dickson and others used the forum not only to commend entrepreneurial ingenuity of Eruani, but said that it has changed the negative narratives of the Niger Delta as hot-bed of militancy and called on investors to come and invest because the government of Seriake Dickson has put in place enabling environment that will endear potential investors.
According to Dr Eruani Azibapu Godbless, the Group President of Azikel Group, the historic foundation laying of the Azikel Refinery project, the first private hydro-Skimming refinery in Nigeria.
The project started out of his quest to drive the industrialization of the Niger Delta, creating employment, wealth and financial freedom.
Upon completion, he said that it would be reversing the sad trend of incessant scarcity of refined petroleum products in Nigeria, despite the abundance of crude oil in the country.
He added, “Oloibiri in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State is the cradle of oil and gas activities in Nigeria in 1956.
“It exported its first commercial production in 1958.
“In the last three decades the nation refined product supplier chain has experienced instability as a result of low operation of the nation’s refinery. “This led to continuous importation of petroleum refined product, with its associated insufficient supply.”
Godbless also stated that the challenges in the downstream oil sector were issues of national discourse, and, “this malaise plaguing the Nigeria economy undoubtedly became a nightmare of successive leaders,” stressing that the private sector participation was germane to shore up availability of refined petroleum products and led to the issuance of refinery licenses to allow private sector participation by President Muhammadu Buhari in the early phase of his administration of which Azikel Refinery was licensed in 2015 at the inception of the administration.
The Azikel Refinery is 12,000 (BPSD) hydro – skimming refinery. It will be producing mixed LPG, Gasoline (petrol ), Kerosene, Jet A1 (Aviation Fuel ) and diesel as primary products, while naphtha, heavy fuel and residual fuel (ATBs) would be produced as secondary product.
The refinery is being developed in two distinct features, viz Inside Battery Limits (ISBL) consisting of crude distillation unit, naphtha hydro threater catalytic reformer, isomerization , (LPG) / Gas plant, kerosene/ jet Treater, diesel Treater, caustic facilities and sour water stripper while the Outside Battery Limits (OSBL) consists of 667,500 barrels of crude and refined products storage tanks capacity of 32 units of various tank sizes, multiple station loading bay gantry utilities (including instrument air, plant air and power generation), 3.1km internal road network, maintenance, operational and administrative buildings, vapor recovery units, fire stations and other ancillaries.
The Azikel Refinery emission control mechanism is a state-of-the-art operational system that the facility attains the Lowest Achievable Emission Rate essentially to ensure that the refinery is the cleanest in Africa.
The facility is also equipped with high technology mechanism to treat waste water to attain zero-discharge. It also engineered with the latest technology. The process units are modularized and designed to maximize high level conversion of crude and condensate feedstock.
The natural state of the location of which Azikel Refinery site is that of a naturally challenging thick virgin swamp forest.
Below sea level, flooded and waterlogged, but strategically located to the Shell Development Company of Nigeria ( SPDC ) Gbarain – Ubie Gas Gathering facility which accords it a high premium and therefore very expensive to acquire too.
The construction works on the Azikel Refinery site possess a lot of physical challenges owing to the difficult terrain which requires massive sand filling to regenerate the land . The site was sand-filled with over 2.7 million cubic meters of sand.
The refinery site has an alluring aesthetics interfacing with nature, as it is bound by the historic River Nun in the South, the SPDC Gas Gathering Facility in the East, Azikel power land on the West and Gbarain Power plant on the Northwest with the Obunagha community settlement and their neighborus on the North.
Azikel Petroleum understands that professionalism competence, dedication and team efforts remain the keys to overall project success.
It has the world’s best industry leaders as partners on its team to achieve the remarkable project in Nigeria.
He also disclosed that the Azikel refinery which will commence production in 2019 has sent Nigerians to the United State of America for training.