The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) plans to import crude oil from Chad and Niger to nourish its Kaduna refinery since it has been facing shortages as a result of constant militancy in the Niger Delta, Ripples Nigeria reported.
The initially designed capacity of the refinery was 60,000 b/d of light crude, which was later increased to 110,00 b/d the facility was developed to process paraffinic based crude oil from Venezuela, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, wrote This Day Live.
According to the recent plans to import crude from the two African countries, “the plant requires some form of refitting so that it can use crude specification from those countries as well. The refitting does not involve complex technology,” stated the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (KRPC).
Further, the NNPC mulls the possibility to use railway transportation to move crude from the Niger Delta to the refinery complex.
Chad and Niger seek to boost their crude production capacity. While Chad has set a target to increase output from 130,000 b/d by the end of 2014 to 260,000 b/d in 2016 from the Mangara and Badila oilfields, Niger Republic aimed at 80,000 b/d this year, up from 20,000 b/d.
