₦airaland Forum

The mechanical completion of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of this year, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has said.

WRPC, located in Warri, Delta State and established in 1978, is one of Nigeria’s three refineries under the management of NNPCL.

The other two include the Port Harcourt Refining Company in Rivers State, and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company in Kaduna State. Rehabilitation work is also ongoing at both facilities.

The Warri refinery is a complex conversion refinery with a capacity to refine 125,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The facility includes a petrochemical plant (established in 1988) producing polypropylene and carbon black.

It supplies petroleum products to southern and south-western Nigeria, but is not producing refined products currently due to the rehabilitation of the facility by the Federal Government.

However, in a brief response to an enquiry by our correspondent with regards to when the plant would be mechanical completed, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer , NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye, state that target was to have it sorted in the first quarter of this year.

“Warri should be done by Q1 (first quarter) 2024,” he stated.

Recall that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, had stated on Wednesday that the Warri refinery was still being worked on.

He disclosed this while responding to a question about the Port Harcourt refinery, whose mechanical completion was widely celebrated on December 21, 2023 by the Federal Government.


Lokpobiri had explained that the rehabilitation exercise at the plants were massive, but expressed optimism that the facilities would come on stream soon.

“These were projects that are very fundamental to our survival economically, and I believe that very soon products will start coming from there. But there are several components in these gigantic structures that will take time mechanically to finalise for products to start coming.

“Recall that the Dangote refinery was commissioned by the Buhari administration but they haven’t started releasing products because it takes time. So I believe that the Port Harcourt refinery will soon come and the Warri refinery is in top gear,” the minister had stated.

Soneye had also told our correspondent earlier that the Port Harcourt refinery was undergoing finishing touches, as the government was working hard to get the plant running.

“We’ve successfully completed the mechanical phase of the PH (Port Harcourt) refinery Area-5 plant, installing all vital components. Licensor inspection has been done, and catalysts delivered.

“Now, industry-based testing remains, focusing on leaks, air, line blowing, flushing, drying, steam out, calibration, plant inerting, and then hydrocarbon introduction.

“While we share the optimism, adherence to global best practices is crucial. Testing will conclude shortly, ensuring the refinery’s efficient operation. Production should commence shortly,” the NNPCL spokesperson had stated.

Recall that on December 21, 2023, the Federal Government announced the mechanical completion of rehabilitation work on Area-5 Plant of the Port Harcourt Refining Company in Rivers State.

It also stated that the first phase of the plant had been completed, adding that the facility would start refining 60,000 barrels of crude oil after the Christmas break. However, this has yet to happen.

The Chief Executive Officer of Cedrus Group, Olubusayo Adeniyi, on Thursday said the reforms and policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria will start yielding results from the second quarter of 2024.

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos, Cedrus CEO disclosed that the apex bank is working to ensure that some of the loopholes in the financial sector were blocked.

“The issue is that we are not being patient enough in Nigeria. We want to see results immediately but it doesn’t work like that. Many of the reforms rolled out by the CBN in 2023 will start to yield results in the two to three months or the second quarter,” he said.

According to the investment banker, some of the agents within the financial sector are exploiting these loopholes, the major reason for the continued depreciation of the value of naira at the foreign exchange market.

On Wednesday, the naira experienced a historic dip against the dollar on the official market, according to data from FMDQ Exchange.

The official market concluded with the naira closing at 1,482.57 against the dollar, reflecting the intensity of the currency’s downward trajectory.

To stabilise the nation’s volatile exchange rate, the apex bank in a circular ordered Deposit Money Banks to sell their excess dollar stock latest February 1, 2024.


The financial regulator believes some commercial banks hold long-term foreign exchange positions to enable them to profit from the volatile movements of exchange rates.

Adeniyi expressed optimism that the naira will regain value in the coming weeks as the CBN continues to block loopholes.

“What is causing the rise in the exchange rate is that certain people are taking advantage of the exposure of the government. That is why the CBN is charged with the responsibility of rolling out reforms and policies that will reduce that and that’s what we are seeing on banks.

“And in a couple of weeks, we will start seeing the capacity of the naira coming out and truly is not driven by economic forces. It is not a situation that calls for panicking. People should just do their business and those who have nothing to do with the forex should leave the dollar,” he added.

The CEO explained that the major problem was not scarcity of forex in the financial sector but a challenge of production across the sectors of the economy.

“Our focus should be on economic drivers. Production is the driver of every economy, when we’re not producing and we are consuming definitely will be on the other side. So, the capacity of our production is what we should focus on. And that’s what I did, I should think about what to walk daily.

“If we have more production, there will be more supply and there will be exports. And then if we have exports it will boost our external reserves and our local currency will rebound,” he said.

Ahead of the midnight February 1, 2024 deadline given by the Central Bank of Nigeria to commercial banks to sell all excess foreign exchange holdings, Deposit Money Banks on Thursday made frantic efforts to offload their surplus dollar stocks.

It was learnt that the treasury departments of the DMBs spent the entire day battling to sell their excess FX holdings. Officials processed several foreign exchange request forms of their customers as they sold more dollars to them, The PUNCH gathered.

The increase in the level of forex sale activities at the official foreign exchange market, it was learnt, led to the rebound of the naira at the parallel market on Thursday.

Several top bank executives, who spoke to The PUNCH on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the matter, confirmed there were huge forex transactions in the banks.

As of 6pm on Thursday, bank officials especially those of the treasury departments, were making efforts to meet the new prudential requirements of the regulator.

Amid its fresh moves to stabilise the nation’s volatile exchange rate, the CBN had in a circular released on Wednesday, ordered DMBs to sell their excess dollar stocks latest February 1, 2024. The CBN also warned lenders against hoarding excess foreign currencies for profit.

According to officials, the central bank believes some commercial banks hold long-term foreign exchange positions to enable them to profit from the volatile movements of exchange rates.

The new circular introduced a set of guidelines aimed at reducing the risks associated with these practices.

In the circular titled, “Harmonisation of Reporting Requirements on Foreign Currency Exposures of Banks”, the CBN raised concerns over the growing trend of banks holding large foreign currency positions.

The circular read in parts, “The Central Bank of Nigeria has noted with concern the growth in foreign currency exposures of banks through their Net Open Position (NOP). This has created an incentive for banks to hold excess long foreign currency positions, which exposes banks to foreign exchange and other risks.”

The apex bank further directed banks with current NOPs exceeding its limits to adjust their positions and comply with the new regulations by February 1, 2024.

The latest circular came barely 48 hours after the CBN released a circular, warning banks and FX dealers against reporting false exchange rates, among others.

The new development came on the heels of the adjustment of the methodology used for the calculation of the nation’s official exchange rate by the FMDQ Exchange, a situation that has moved the official exchange to about N1,500 from around N900/dollar.

Following the latest CBN directive which is aimed at unifying the official and parallel market rates of the local unit, several banks sold forex to their customers on Thursday.

The development led to a sharp rebound of the national currency in the official market. Bureau De Change operators in Lagos, Kano, and Abuja also pushed to sell their dollar holding amid fear the local unit might sustain the gain in coming days.

Alhaji Lawan Ismael, a BDC operator in Ikeja, Lagos, said he bought and sold the greenback for N1400/dollar and N1420/dollar, respectively.

Another BDC at the Lagos airport, Sabiu Abdullahi, said the greenback went for between N1400/$ and N1400/$. This, he said, was a huge rebound from over N1500/$ it sold on Wednesday.

In Abuja, the naira traded at the parallel market between N1,300/$ and N1,350/$.

A Bureau De Change operator, Ibrahim Yahu told The PUNCH, “Today, because of our small action, you could not get a standard price. Those who bought today did so at risk. But the dollar sold between N1,300 and N1,350.”

The naira closed at N1,455.59/$ at the official window on Wednesday, according to the FMDQ Securities Exchange. This rate has been yet to be updated as of 09:39 pm Thursday.

Commenting on the effect of the circular, bank officials who pleaded anonymity said they were bound to ensure their books remain within the new FX prudential limit.

“All banks working to meet the deadline,” the chief financial officer of a tier-2 bank told The PUNCH on Thursday evening.

Also, a top official of a tier-1 bank, while commenting on the development, said, “After the CBN directive, we had to push out the FX.”

Another official said, “All banks are pushing out funds now, and we are ready to sell. The key thing is profit here.”

Meanwhile, some bank officials said beyond the FX in banks, the CBN and the security agencies would need to beam their searchlights on politicians and government officials who are hoarding dollars in their homes.

As part of its effort to boost liquidity in the FX market, the CBN on Wednesday issued a new circular that removes the previous cap on exchange rates quoted by International Money Transfer Operators.

In a document titled, ‘Guidelines on International Money Transfer Service in Nigeria,’ the CBN asked IMTOs to make payments to customers only in Nigerian currency while using the prevailing exchange rate on the day the transfer is received.

Abuja BDCs shutdown

On Wednesday, a source told The PUNCH that BDC operators would close their shop on Thursday. The Chairman of Bureau De Change operators in the FCT, Abdulahi Dauran, confirmed this to local media.

Dauran noted that the operators were shutting down their operation because of the unavailability of dollars.

According to him, that has been an uptick in online business transactions and cryptocurrency, which has been affecting their business.

Speaking on Thursday, the same source who spoke to The PUNCH on Wednesday, revealed that operators were set to close the market next week on Monday due to the success recorded on Thursday.

The source said, “There is another plan in motion to close the market next week Monday. It is going to be another crackdown so that the price of dollar will reduce to the barest minimum.”

Meanwhile, an official at a first-generation bank told one of our correspondents that the banks did not have enough physical foreign notes to dispose of as directed by the CBN.

The source who is not permitted to speak to the media claimed that the surge observed by the apex bank in its Net Open Positions were electronic notes and not physical as insinuated by the circular.

DMerciful:
How will Tinubu win anywhere in the East when he couldn't win Lagos or Abuja?

The compromised judiciary struck out the evidence saying it was not frontloaded.

How can you frontload evidence that INEC refused to give you but you could only get some via subpoena? The act of getting subpoena already made frontloading impossible

Sirmwill:
People like you can never see a genuine reason for criticism

DMerciful:
You're not in this country on election day were result sheets were changed with TipEx. Obi won Rivers, it was changed. Even Wike's men admitted they changed the results. BBC and premiumtimes confirmed Obi won. Obi won benue but it was changed. Obi got over a million votes in Plateau, it was changed. Obi got 900k votes in Lagos while Tinubu got 150k votes, it was changed

Obi no doubt had the most votes in that election

Sirmwill:
You people should Ronu

DMerciful:
Lies! INEC rigged the election. Tinubu did not win. Stop trying to confer legitimacy on him, he is an illegitimate pretender in Aso Rock

Sirmwill:
So you are defending INEC?

DMerciful:
He did! That's the reason IREV was shutdown.

Jega even asked INEC to explain what happened to IREV, that he believes it was tempered with

DMerciful:
It was tigged. He actually got about 10 million votes

Gucciblog:
Give him a second chance?

Are you trying to say that he has failed already this first chance?

Gucciblog:
Give him a second chance?

Are you trying to say that he has failed already this first chance?

Yemike:
Sometimes ago the government said they have the list of boko haram sponsors but nothing happened afterwards. Jokers.

Gucciblog:
Give him a second chance?

Are you trying to say that he has failed already this first chance?