The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation has launched bidding to find partners to overhaul its ailing refineries.
This was contained in a tender published on Tuesday.
Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer has been trying to revive its refineries, which hardly produce any petrol due to decades of mismanagement and widespread graft, leading to motorists queuing for fuel for months across the country at petrol stations.
Last month, NNPC’s Managing Director, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said the firm was in talks with Chevron, France’s Total and Italy’s ENI to revamp the refineries but would also launch a separate tender in order to attract a maximum number of bids.
The corporation is seeking partners for joint ventures to “fund, rehabilitate and jointly” operate the 210,000-barrel-per-day Port Harcourt refinery, the 110,000-bpd Kaduna refinery and the 125,000-bpd Warri refinery, according to the tender which was published in newspapers.
Bidding it said will end on May 30.
Investors would be paid from proceeds from the sale of refined products, the tender stated.
The revamp is said to be part of reforms by President Muhammadu Buhari to overhaul NNPC, whose opaque structures have allowed corruption and oil theft to flourish.
In February, Kachikwu said the company was also in talks with oil companies and banks to raise capital for new drilling and to repay its debt.
