[size=14pt]Orient Refinery Fully Operational End Of 2012, Says Anyaoku[/size]

• Targets 2000 Jobs

• We’ve Gone Ahead Of Other Private Refineries

ORIENT Petroleum Resources (OPR) —Refining and Petrochemicals Ltd, has given the indication that its refinery would be “up and running” by the end of 2012 when the envisaged completion of the refinery installation would have been completed.

Giving this assurance, while delivering a speech at the 2011 Annual General Meeting of the company in Awka, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, said this would include the overseas procurement and shipment of long-lead items and on-site fabrication of storage tanks.

According to the reverred diplomat, Orient has completed the acquisition process, including the perimeter and topographical surveys of 240 hectares of land at the refinery site in Anambra State and another 21 hectares at Lokoja, Kogi State for stand-alone petroleum products depot expected to serve the central and northern parts of the country.

Other activities already concluded include the geotechnical, geological and hydro- geological surveys at the refinery site, site civil engineering works, including clearing, leveling earthworks prior to construction of internal roads, reinforced concrete plinths for installation of refinery equipment and detailed engineering and fabrication.

Orient, which has interest in oil and gas exploration, production, petroleum products refining, sales and exports, had, in its notice of AGM 2011 that was sent to its shareholders, disclosed that all works listed above “have been fully paid for, except balance of equipment cost prior to shipment.”

Anyaoku confirmed that, all things being equal, the company would, indeed, also begin crude oil production and sales next year.

He, however, gave a breakdown of fundamental issues, which have direct or indirect consequence on the company’s performance up to the end of August, 2011.

He said after the Federal Government granted Orient the Licence to Establish and the Approval to Construct its 55,000 bpsd refinery in 2002 and 2004, respectively, the company had gone ahead to obtain the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Certificate for its refinery in 2005, and by so doing became the first private refinery in Nigeria to obtain such an EIA Certificate.

He disclosed that, to provide additional insurance and security for crude feedstock supply, the Federal Government had granted to Orient on sole risk basis, two oil blocks, OPL 915 & 916, which are very close to the location of their refinery. They have, since receiving the two oil blocks, been conducting the necessary exploration and production work to ensure timely provision of crude feedstock to the refinery.

The company decided early in 2011 to fast-track a staged development of its two oil blocks, OPL 915 and OPL 916 by initial completion and production testing of one of the already drilled oil wells and 3D seismic data acquisition. This staged oilfield development is expected to generate cash flow to support the financing and early completion of the refinery, which is a capital-intensive project.

Meanwhile, Managing Director of the company, Mr. Nnaemeka Nwawka, an Engineer, told journalists that Orient’s activities had gone way beyond controversy and is ahead of other private refineries reported to have lost their operational licences. He asserted that Orient’s remains valid and intact.

Nwawka told The Guardian at the company’s office in Awka that the company’s operations have gone far beyond the level of meeting licensing terms and conditions, and it as the company is already set to commence actual oil and gas production and crude oil export within the next few months, preparatory to the completion of its refinery at the end of 2012.

Nwawka stated that when that phase of the company’s operations takes off completely, it would provide hundreds of high networth direct jobs and ancillary services.

He commended the supportive efforts and encouragement of the federal ministries of Finance and Petroleum, both of which, he claimed, have shown great understanding. He said the downstream sector is generally desirous of having government’s proposed incentives for private refineries gazetted and implemented as a way of stimulating meaningful activities and programmes.

The Orient boss added that the proceeds from the initial sales of the produced oil and gas would provide early cash flow and boost financiers’ confidence to fund the acquisition of the outstanding refinery modules and auxiliary equipment.

Still on incentives for effective operations, Anyaoku said government’s economic and structural reform continues with efforts to curb inflation and improve reliability of basic infrastructure, improved expenditure on which he believes the stock of nation’s external reserves is declining.

“The price of Nigeria’s Bonny light grade,” he said, “averaged $62.20, $80.90 per barrel, for 2009 and 2010, respectively. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 7.72 per cent in the second quarter of 2011, up from 7.4 per cent recorded in 2010.”

The nation’s crude oil production, he stated, stood at around 1.9 million and 2.47 million barrels per day (bpd) by year-end 2009 and 2010 respectively and is expected to increase slightly with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill currently before the National Assembly.

Anyaoku also sees the planned removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government as one of the expected ways to help correct a lot of distortions in the economy, including the pressure on the exchange rate.


http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66660:orient-refinery-fully-operational-end-of-2012-says-anyaoku&catid=31:business&Itemid=562

Is it possible to build a refinery in a year? It doesn't sound quite right to me, or is it just a tiny one?

Maybe it is to be assembled. You can buy one(if available),dismantle and ship it and then re assemble.

Beaf:

Is it possible to build a refinery in a year? It doesn't sound quite right to me, or is it just a tiny one?

The building of this refinery didnt start ytday.

Relax101:

The building of this refinery didnt start ytday.

Spot on. They've been at this for a while now. I believe funding has been one of the major hurdle stalling the project. I remembered when they came to market about 2-3 years ago to raise money. I guess the private placement fall short of expectation, or else the project would have been near completion by now. Hopefully, they have enough funding now to complete the project.

Come to think of it, can they achieve the commissioning within a year? Hopefully they've completed all the design phases already. Fabrication of all long lead items like compressors, towers, reactors, turbine for plant electricity, into Nigeria will be one tough cookie to crack. Hopefully their project managers are well prepared for the dynamics of Nigerian factors and have already instituted measures to cushion that shortfall.

courage89:

Spot on. They've been at this for a while now. I believe funding has been one of the major hurdle stalling the project. I remembered when they came to market about 2-3 years ago to raise money. I guess the private placement fall short of expectation, or else the project would have been near completion by now. Hopefully, they have enough funding now to complete the project.

Come to think of it, can they achieve the commissioning within a year? Hopefully they've completed all the design phases already. Fabrication of all long lead items like compressors, towers, reactors, turbine for plant electricity, into Nigeria will be one tough cookie to crack. Hopefully their project managers are well prepared for the dynamics of Nigerian factors and have already instituted measures to cushion that shortfall.

Oga the private placement didnt fall short of expectation, it fell flat on its face cos of the state of the markets at the time. This IMO appears to be another pipedrean

55,000 bpd X 2 , Men that's good good news for every Nigerian. and i hope they serious abt it cos we need this to expose our govt. i hope they go ahead to acquire one or two more from the federal govt. to make Nigeria a strong economy. at least something of pride for the SE that will benefit us (Nigerians) all aint a bad idea at all.

if work on site completed so far is just civil works, then 2012 ending is not feasible dats bein optimistic. May be mechanical completion by then dats stil good enough.

I bought the private placement and have been wondering what became of the company after the PP. I even went to UBA capital market that did the marketing of the PP and they didnt have any information about the company afterwards. Am glad to hear that they are still alive and preparing to hit the road big time. Good news to shareholders and to all nigerians. Kudos to Emeka Anyaoku.

aloy@emeka:

[size=14pt]Orient Refinery Fully Operational End Of 2012, Says Anyaoku[/size]

• Targets 2000 Jobs

• We’ve Gone Ahead Of Other Private Refineries

ORIENT Petroleum Resources (OPR) —Refining and Petrochemicals Ltd, has given the indication that its refinery would be “up and running” by the end of 2012 when the envisaged completion of the refinery installation would have been completed.

Giving this assurance, while delivering a speech at the 2011 Annual General Meeting of the company in Awka, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, said this would include the overseas procurement and shipment of long-lead items and on-site fabrication of storage tanks.

According to the reverred diplomat, Orient has completed the acquisition process, including the perimeter and topographical surveys of 240 hectares of land at the refinery site in Anambra State and another 21 hectares at Lokoja, Kogi State for stand-alone petroleum products depot expected to serve the central and northern parts of the country.

Other activities already concluded include the geotechnical, geological and hydro- geological surveys at the refinery site, site civil engineering works, including clearing, leveling earthworks prior to construction of internal roads, reinforced concrete plinths for installation of refinery equipment and detailed engineering and fabrication.

Orient, which has interest in oil and gas exploration, production, petroleum products refining, sales and exports, had, in its notice of AGM 2011 that was sent to its shareholders, disclosed that all works listed above “have been fully paid for, except balance of equipment cost prior to shipment.”

Anyaoku confirmed that, all things being equal, the company would, indeed, also begin crude oil production and sales next year.

He, however, gave a breakdown of fundamental issues, which have direct or indirect consequence on the company’s performance up to the end of August, 2011.

He said after the Federal Government granted Orient the Licence to Establish and the Approval to Construct its 55,000 bpsd refinery in 2002 and 2004, respectively, the company had gone ahead to obtain the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Certificate for its refinery in 2005, and by so doing became the first private refinery in Nigeria to obtain such an EIA Certificate.

He disclosed that, to provide additional insurance and security for crude feedstock supply, the Federal Government had granted to Orient on sole risk basis, two oil blocks, OPL 915 & 916, which are very close to the location of their refinery. They have, since receiving the two oil blocks, been conducting the necessary exploration and production work to ensure timely provision of crude feedstock to the refinery.

The company decided early in 2011 to fast-track a staged development of its two oil blocks, OPL 915 and OPL 916 by initial completion and production testing of one of the already drilled oil wells and 3D seismic data acquisition. This staged oilfield development is expected to generate cash flow to support the financing and early completion of the refinery, which is a capital-intensive project.

Meanwhile, Managing Director of the company, Mr. Nnaemeka Nwawka, an Engineer, told journalists that Orient’s activities had gone way beyond controversy and is ahead of other private refineries reported to have lost their operational licences. He asserted that Orient’s remains valid and intact.

Nwawka told The Guardian at the company’s office in Awka that the company’s operations have gone far beyond the level of meeting licensing terms and conditions, and it as the company is already set to commence actual oil and gas production and crude oil export within the next few months, preparatory to the completion of its refinery at the end of 2012.

Nwawka stated that when that phase of the company’s operations takes off completely, it would provide hundreds of high networth direct jobs and ancillary services.

He commended the supportive efforts and encouragement of the federal ministries of Finance and Petroleum, both of which, he claimed, have shown great understanding. He said the downstream sector is generally desirous of having government’s proposed incentives for private refineries gazetted and implemented as a way of stimulating meaningful activities and programmes.

The Orient boss added that the proceeds from the initial sales of the produced oil and gas would provide early cash flow and boost financiers’ confidence to fund the acquisition of the outstanding refinery modules and auxiliary equipment.

Still on incentives for effective operations, Anyaoku said government’s economic and structural reform continues with efforts to curb inflation and improve reliability of basic infrastructure, improved expenditure on which he believes the stock of nation’s external reserves is declining.

“The price of Nigeria’s Bonny light grade,” he said, “averaged $62.20, $80.90 per barrel, for 2009 and 2010, respectively. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 7.72 per cent in the second quarter of 2011, up from 7.4 per cent recorded in 2010.”

The nation’s crude oil production, he stated, stood at around 1.9 million and 2.47 million barrels per day (bpd) by year-end 2009 and 2010 respectively and is expected to increase slightly with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill currently before the National Assembly.

Anyaoku also sees the planned removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government as one of the expected ways to help correct a lot of distortions in the economy, including the pressure on the exchange rate.


http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66660:orient-refinery-fully-operational-end-of-2012-says-anyaoku&catid=31:business&Itemid=562

he items in red are my concern, for a guarantee of crude oil supply, the FG gave them 2 oil blocks, now they want to use these oil blocks to finance the refinery completion How on earth will any1 embark on a project without a proper cash flow analysis to ensure its completion, Now they want start exporting crude 1st, is it jst me or is there smt fishy out thr, Quick question peeps, prior to the 2002 announcement, waht was Orient's biznesss? i need some enlightenment

Beaf:

Is it possible to build a refinery in a year? It doesn't sound quite right to me, or is it just a tiny one?

Help! What happened to BEAF we all know? Whed did BEAF start asking quetions? I need Tin-tin to investigate the true motive of this guy's recent change of attitude: BEAF is planning something.,.,.,

I pray dis refinery project succeeds, its going to be d game changer on d subsidy issue and I checked them out on the internet and saw their reports and believe that there is hope. They need to recruit asap.

Orient Petroleum having Emeka Anyanoku as their chairman is a big plus from day one. I regret not hearing of the private placement. Those investors should count themselves lucky. The refinery will work. I have a very strong believe the chairman and the entire team at Orient Petroleum. He's not one of these run-off-the-mill politrickcians.

They have been building this refinery for the past five years, a host of them were awarded licences to build and operate refineries by the obasanjo regime. The truth is that they all will continue bulding these refineries over the next 20 years without commissioning until we have full deregulating in the oil industry. No serious person or financier will put in money to a project where the price of input/crude is not controlled and the price of the output is.

crowaddy:

They have been building this refinery for the past five years, a host of them were awarded licences to build and operate refineries by the obasanjo regime. The truth is that they all will continue bulding these refineries over the next 20 years without commissioning until we have full deregulating in the oil industry. No serious person or financier will put in money to a project where the price of input/crude is not controlled and the price of the output is.

The only sensible post so far. No serious investor will put money behind this project, that's why the PP flopped in the first place (had nothing to do with market conditions, a good deal will get funding in any climate) This 2012 talk is anchored on the proposed deregulation, that's when investors will be willing to back ANY private refinery. I have no knowledge of refinery construction so i cant comment on the lead time for completion.

They are not building any refinery without deregulation. Please, don't raise your hopes.

This is the kind of project state goverments should be investing in, but there will be nothing to STEAL! should they invest some of their federal allocation. I wonder what the point is in having states that cannot sustain itself, just avenue for polilooters to steal money. The only confidence i'm having in this project is because it involves someone of impecable character.

Actionleap:

Orient Petroleum having Emeka Anyanoku as their chairman is a big plus from day one. I regret not hearing of the private placement. Those investors should count themselves lucky. The refinery will work. I have a very strong believe the chairman and the entire team at Orient Petroleum. He's not one of these run-off-the-mill politrickcians.

What makes Anyaoku a big plus,somebody that's fully in support of removal of subsidy.Many thot d same when Obasanjo came out of prison to bcome pres;similar sentiments when a minority is now d pres,but see where we ar.Besides there is nothing that shows that dis phantom refinery will take off in 2012 as projected,is dis not nigeria;where projects are executed on pages of newspapers!

psalmizt:

he items in red are my concern, for a guarantee of crude oil supply, the FG gave them 2 oil blocks, now they want to use these oil blocks to finance the refinery completion How on earth will any1 embark on a project without a proper cash flow analysis to ensure its completion, Now they want start exporting crude 1st, is it jst me or is there smt fishy out thr, Quick question peeps, prior to the 2002 announcement, waht was Orient's biznesss? i need some enlightenment

I wonder why no one else is reasoning along this lines,of cos another Scam,they are just gonna sell of the rights to sell of the crudes from this wells andwhat do the ordinary man get zero plus high fuek prices.

When I first read the post and saw Emeka Anyaokwu as Chairman of their board, my first thought was: "wow! From Statesman to business-man. Interesting". But then that's the function of most non-executive directors and chairmen of boards- some to contribute their diverse experience to corporate decision-making and others to lend credibility to the board, a function which I believe Emeka's presence strongly created.

On to the main issue, a few items noted in the newspaper article gave me cause for concern. I am not fully knowledgeable in these matters but is it actually possible to fully construct and commission a 55,000 bpd refinery in the space of 12 months? Yes, so much time has been spent on the pre-construction phase, I'm also aware of their office presence in Awka as far back as 2003 (when I used to be a Unizik undergrad), orders have been placed and presumably credit has been put in place for the component parts to be shipped in, why even EIA has been conducted already, but can the refinery actually be assembled and commissioned in one year? Although I'm a bit skeptical about this, I'd be very happy if they deliver on their promise. There is also another refinery of a similar scale that had been proposed to be built in Akamkpa, Cross-river state. The promoter then in an interview (2005 or thereabouts), cited discussions they'd had with refinery builders in Texas. My fingers are still crossed on that one.

A second issue I observed is the OPL licences that Orient was granted as extra security to availability of crude stock. An Oil Prospecting Licence as compared to an Oil Mining Licence in a location, does not give a 100% guarantee that crude will be extracted from that location. With an OPL, the licence holder has the right to prospect for and check the availability of extractable oil deposits in quantities that is commercially-viable. Does the licence holder now have to apply for an OML before pumping out oil? I don't know. Our better-informed readers can enlighten us more. But I am aware of a dispute Gen T.Y Danjuma had when OBJ was president, in which Danjuma had been granted an OPL and after spending so much money on prospecting and oil was eventually discovered, the OML was sold to another entity because of an alleged fall-out Danjuma then had with OBJ. So the OPL listed in the article seems more like counting the roosters before the eggs have even hatched. And what did they mean by saying the oil-fields were relatively closer to the refinery site? Are there oil-fields in Anambra state? Well, that is talk for another day.

All in all, let's just pray that this project comes to fruition as promised. I'm eagerly awaiting this one in particular. More private refineries are needed in the country as the fuel subsidy removal is being considered. If not for anything, at least to cushion the price shock that'll follow. And they'll still make their money in the process.

Everything about this story is one big fat LIE!. There is no way they are going to achieve that before 2012.

Another avenue by the so-called cabals to decieve and milk the government. Those fronting this scam should be put on trial, right AWAY!

Cant they post some pictures of the on-going works? Or are they going to cast-out the finish refinery?? Which fabrication yard are they using and what capacity of labour?
4 million man hours no be moi-moi oooo!. Test-running alone should take atleast six months, going by this, they are at the final stage of the project . Wal-lah!


It is very possible to build a refinery over time, with good planning and money, not over the pages of news papers. This is a massive fraud.

Maybe they will bring experts from all over the world to construct it

Tinyemeka:

When I first read the post and saw Emeka Anyaokwu as Chairman of their board, my first thought was: "wow! From Statesman to business-man. Interesting". But then that's the function of most non-executive directors and chairmen of boards- some to contribute their diverse experience to corporate decision-making and others to lend credibility to the board, a function which I believe Emeka's presence strongly created.

On to the main issue, a few items noted in the newspaper article gave me cause for concern. I am not fully knowledgeable in these matters but is it actually possible to fully construct and commission a 55,000 bpd refinery in the space of 12 months? Yes, so much time has been spent on the pre-construction phase, I'm also aware of their office presence in Awka as far back as 2003 (when I used to be a Unizik undergrad), orders have been placed and presumably credit has been put in place for the component parts to be shipped in, why even EIA has been conducted already, but can the refinery actually be assembled and commissioned in one year? Although I'm a bit skeptical about this, I'd be very happy if they deliver on their promise. There is also another refinery of a similar scale that had been proposed to be built in Akamkpa, Cross-river state. The promoter then in an interview (2005 or thereabouts), cited discussions they'd had with refinery builders in Texas. My fingers are still crossed on that one.

A second issue I observed is the OPL licences that Orient was granted as extra security to availability of crude stock. An Oil Prospecting Licence as compared to an Oil Mining Licence in a location, does not give a 100% guarantee that crude will be extracted from that location. With an OPL, the licence holder has the right to prospect for and check the availability of extractable oil deposits in quantities that is commercially-viable. Does the licence holder now have to apply for an OML before pumping out oil? I don't know. Our better-informed readers can enlighten us more. But I am aware of a dispute Gen T.Y Danjuma had when OBJ was president, in which Danjuma had been granted an OPL and after spending so much money on prospecting and oil was eventually discovered, the OML was sold to another entity because of an alleged fall-out Danjuma then had with OBJ. So the OPL listed in the article seems more like counting the roosters before the eggs have even hatched. And what did they mean by saying the oil-fields were relatively closer to the refinery site? Are there oil-fields in Anambra state? Well, that is talk for another day.

All in all, let's just pray that this project comes to fruition as promised. I'm eagerly awaiting this one in particular. More private refineries are needed in the country as the fuel subsidy removal is being considered. If not for anything, at least to cushion the price shock that'll follow. And they'll still make their money in the process.

there are huge gas deposits there

Anambra is the best State Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Courage89, that was rly informative. I like that objective analysis by u, it was expertly done. Nice1 bro

Some people are posting negative here out of envy. By the way its not your darling FG oil money that they are using. Let them try, am happy to hear this news. Even if they fail, at least they tried. You what have you done except to be an internet warrior.

NB: even if they dont complete it and start refining crude by end 2012, have it in mind they the completion wont be far from that date. Never underestimate an igbo man that is hell bent on getting something done, he and his chi will move what ever to do it.

How i wish there are other such projects in other parts of the country.

Rhino.5dm:

Everything about this story is one big fat LIE!. There is no way they are going to achieve that before 2012.

Another avenue by the so-called cabals to decieve and milk the government. Those fronting this scam should be put on trial, right AWAY!

Cant they post some pictures of the on-going works? Or are they going to cast-out the finish refinery?? Which fabrication yard are they using and what capacity of labour?
4 million man hours no be moi-moi oooo!. Test-running alone should take atleast six months, going by this, they are at the final stage of the project . Wal-lah!


It is very possible to build a refinery over time, with good planning and money, not over the pages of news papers. This is a massive fraud.

are yu ok?
wat do yu know this orient refinery?
read the news well

dustydee:

Maybe it is to be assembled. You can buy one(if available),dismantle and ship it and then re assemble.

@Rhino.5dm
did u read that^

just pray it works out and if the subsidy is finally removed, we wont have to suffer so much in NIgeria.

Refineries are about the size of small towns and usually take about 4 years to build one from scratch. How do these guys at Orient intend to pull this one off, did they start the work about 2 years ago?

This is indeed a welcome development and i dont see why people should bring negative sentiments about it. At least its not the federal govt project ,if not i for dey fear !