Private investors to set up 107,000bpd Epic refinery in Bayelsa

to start in next 12 months, targets 100,000 jobs

In line with the present administration’s intention to reduce the volume of imported refined petroleum products, promoters of another privately owned refinery in Nigeria, on Saturday in Lagos, disclosed plans to commence the building of a 107,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Okporoma, Southern Ijaw Local Government of Bayelsa State.

The refinery, called Epic refinery, licensed by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) with licence number: PI/ES/MSF/6239/S.233/292, dated June 15, 2015, is expected to start operations in the next 12 months.

“In terms of production volume, Epic refinery is the third on the list after Dangote and one other refinery, and we have been working hard to put things right so that the project will be up and running in the next 12 months,” Barango Mathew Wenke Jnr, president/CEO, Epic Refinery Group, said while briefing newsmen in Lagos.

According to him, the production volume will be divided into phases of 30,000bpd to enable the company run the refinery effectively. “We are going to inaugurate the project team soon in Abuja. After which the project team will start engaging the operators, DPR and the registered contractors in the company’s head office in Yenegoa, Bayelsa, to decide the way forward.

“It is a big shame that Nigeria, which is one of the largest oil producing state, is still importing refined petroleum products. We want to support the Federal Government with 30,000bpd mid-stream production to complement the volume that will be produced by Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries, and we strongly believe that Epic, if fully operational, will help the present administration to achieve its bid of removing subsidy,” he said.

While disclosing that the project is a foreign direct investment, the Epic boss said refineries were better functional when there was access to crude. Epic is sure of its raw material because the refinery will seat in between two oil majors, Agip and Shell.

He called on the government to deregulate the downstream sector, support local refineries and encourage local investors by allocating marginal fields and oil blocs to competent investors to enhance their operations.

He further disclosed that Epic had sealed deal with investors and partners from USA, Middle East and an Iranian company, and will soon be unveiling the foreign partners, saying “locally, we are carrying out due diligence to select our local partners.”

Also speaking, Zakari Umar, project director, who noted that the company started this journey in 2011, and had completed the statutory processes from DPR, said the company had secured over 1,000 hectares of land in a non-river area to build the refinery.

Epic Group is interested in setting up a petro-chemical, power generation and agro-allied industries to produce fertilizer, among others, but the refinery will be first on the list, he said.

Epic investment plan include building a jetty at Akasa by the Atlantic Ocean to enable movement from the refinery to the Atlantic Ocean, and partner the state government to build a dual-carriage road in the Brass area of the state.