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Tag: modular

  • Local investors set up modular plants for Lithium with South African firm

    Local investors set up modular plants for Lithium with South African firm

    In a move to advance the value-added component of the mining sector’s 7-point agenda, local mining firm Jupiter Lithium Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with South African mining giant Bevex Mining Services.

    This agreement aims to establish modular plants for the exploration and processing of lithium.

    The MOU represents a significant milestone in the development and operation of a modular Lithium Concentrator Plant in Kafanchan, Kaduna State.

    Dubbed the “Jupiter Project,” it seeks to leverage rich spodumene deposits to produce premium Spodumene Concentrate (SC6), which will be processed into lithium for battery production.

    The MOU outlines an immediate three-month scoping study, including drilling and metallurgical test work, to finalize the design of the process plant.

    Read Also: DPR targets 800bcf/d from modular LNG plants

    Expressing enthusiasm while signing the MOU, the representative of the local investors, Dr. Hassan Tukur said: “This MOU signifies a vital partnership between Nigeria and South Africa in leveraging advanced lithium processing technology. It aligns with our mission to enhance Nigeria’s mining sector and boost local employment.”

    He added that the South African firm, “known for its extensive experience in lithium processing across Africa, will bring its expertise to the project. The collaboration aims to utilize Dense Media Separation (DMS) technology, a tried and proven method in South Africa, to create modular process plants. These plants will be positioned close to spodumene outcrops, reducing transport costs and minimizing environmental impact.”

    Assuring all stakeholders of its readiness to ensure the success of the project, Dave Griffiths, the Chief Executive Officer of Bevex Mining Services said they are committed to local development and environmental sustainability as the core values of their operations.

    Shedding light on the advantages of the DMS technology in modular plants, Griffiths said the innovative approach reduces transport costs and minimizes local community disruption.

    According to him, “the modular concentrator plants will process spodumene ore, averaging 1.5% to 2% grade, to produce high-quality Spodumene Concentrate (SC6) with a 6% Lithium Oxide (Li2O) content. The SC6 will be sold domestically for further processing, enhancing Nigeria’s value chain in lithium production.

    Dr. Stephen Davis, Director of Jupiter Lithium Ltd., stated, “Our partnership with Bevex will expedite the development of the Jupiter Project, setting a new standard for lithium processing in Nigeria. This is a significant leap towards meeting global lithium demands while fostering local industry growth.”

    Endorsing the agreement Kaduna State government through the Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Abubakar Buba assured the investors of the government’s readiness to give necessary support for the modular plants.

     “His Excellency, Sen. Uba Sani and the state government warmly welcome this partnership and look forward to a fruitful collaboration. This agreement promises significant benefits for our state’s development.”

  • Delta to build three modular refineries

    Delta to build three modular refineries

    Delta State Government is to buld three modular refineries of 10,000 barrel/day capacity each this year.

    The refineries, according to the Commissioner for Oil and Gas, Hon. Mofe Pirah, who spoke with reporters at the state’s stand at the ongoing first Nigerian International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja, will be sited in Kwale, Okpai and Sapele.

    He said aside securing the certificates and acquiring the sites, the engineering works had begun, but that the bureaucracy at the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and funding were delaying the flag-off of construction.

    His words: “Delta State already has three modular refineries waiting to take off in Sapele, Nkwale, and Okpai of combined capacity of less than 10,000 barrel per day.

    “You know the rigour you go through with DPR, with funding and all of that. Some of them are have gotten certificates, some have acquired the sites and engineering works is in progress. This year, they will start to construction.”

    Speaking, the Consultant to Delta State Government on the Industrial Park Project (IPP), Dr. David Ige, said 100,000 jobs were underway from the project.

    He said Governor Ifeanyi Okowe had initiated the project in Kwale, where the state was leveraging on its own gas competitive advantage for industrialisation.

    Continuing, he said the park, designed to be the largest single small and medium manufacturing location in the country, would tap from the marginal field in Kwale area.

    He added that “the idea is that we are trying to create a corridor for the manufacturing of glass, ceramic, and plastics. The reason being that the raw materials are within 50 to 70 kilometres radius of the Kwale Industrial Park.”

    Ige said the park would boast of the huge reliability in gas and power in the country compare with anywhere else.

  • ‘Niger Delta indigenes need bailout for modular refineries’

    ‘Niger Delta indigenes need bailout for modular refineries’

    Ijaw Youth Council President, Pereotubo Roland Oweilaemi, is a lawyer. In this interview with AKINOLA AJIBADE, he speaks on conditions for peace in the Niger Delta region, restructuring and the need for a bailout for the region’s indigenes interested in owning modular refineries and marginal fields, among others.

    Two years into President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, what is your take on peace in the Niger Delta?

    Peace in the Niger Delta is inevitable and must be achieved irrespective of who is at the helm of affairs. It is important and we are working tirelessly to ensure that there is peace in the Niger Delta and Ijaw territories, and the government at the centre is trying to settle down to attend to some of our demands. It is expected that we give them some time to dress the table and attend to the problems of the Niger Delta people

    Do you buy into the modular refineries programme, especially in view of the criticism that they are not profitable?

    With due respect, I don’t want to agree that modular refineries if properly handled are not viable. I don’t agree with the proponents of that ideology. Modular refinery is a good gesture by the Federal Government. It is just to move away from oil theft, to move away from illegal oil bunkering. but the worry is that the people, who are supposed to be empowered to do this are not the ones in charge. I mean the Niger Delta people,  the Ijaw people, who are involved in one form or the other, but are not doing the oil business properly. This is the essence of modular refineries. We find out that the government is not giving the sons and daughters of the Niger Delta the opportunity to own and operate modular refineries because the conditions to get them are very stringent.The financial involvement is very huge and we do not have that kind of money. So, we are calling on the Federal Government to relax these conditions to enable us also own and operate modular refineries, so that the peace we expect will continue to be part of the Niger Delta region.

    Are you aware that DPR has reduced the initial deposit from $1million to $150,000?

    Yes, I am aware and that’s still too much? It’s too much, we want further reduction. We have the oil, but we have not been managing this oil. We don’t have a stake in it so it should be relaxed. It should be brought down that we might also participate as equal owners in the project.

    Do you have colleagues in the Niger Delta, who have applied to  the DPR , because it said it was waiting for people to submit applications?

    How can you apply for something that you knew from the onset that you cannot start? You know the requirements, you have been given the requirements and from the word go, you know that you can’t do it. There is no miracle, conditions are stringent. We can’t apply and get it concluded logically, that is why we are saying that they should relax the conditions for us to be co-owners. You can’t say that the process is open and they expect people from Niger Delta, people from Ijaw extraction, to apply. How will they apply for something that they know that they won’t get at the end of the day? You already know the condition. The involvement, the logistics to put together to get a modular refinery is huge, that is why we are saying they should bring it down please.

    Do you expect a bailout or something similar for Niger Delta indigenes?

    That is what we expect. As a matter of fact, we are calling on the government to give us a time frame of about five to 10years, to get the modular refineries set up for a group of youths in the Niger Delta and say that from a particular time of the year, pay a certain amount to the Federal Government and at the end of the payment, you will become the owner of the refinery. That is palliative.

    So, what are you doing to reach out to those in authority concerning this particular issue?

    Yes, we were talking to them. I was with my elder brother, the Special Adviser on Amnesty, and we had fruitful discussions on how we will ensure that there is peace in the Niger Delta region. Of course, you will agree with me that where there is no peace, you can’t  attract  development, so, it is our responsibility to ensure, as youth leaders, that there is peace in the Niger Delta. That is the only panacea for development in the Niger Delta and we expect the government at different strata to do some basic things for us to get this peace we are looking for.

    Ogoni cleanup, do you see the project ongoing?

    It is unfortunate that we don’t seem to see what should be happening  now on site. The process is slow and we are not pleased about it. Ogoni is not the only place, it is peculiar, but it is not the only place that requires cleanup in the Niger Delta. There are so many places that are bastardised, our farmlands are gone, our aquatic life is gone, everything is gone. Our mothers cannot farm, they cannot fish. So, we need cleanup in almost every place in the Niger Delta, but you must start it from somewhere and that is why the government has decided to start from Ogoni. However, the speed we expected is not the speed we see on ground. I am calling on the government to ensure that Ogoni cleanup exercise is given priority attention.

    Federal Government plans marginal  fields bid round before the end of this year. How prepared are the Niger Delta youths to take advantage of this opportunity?

    We are very ready and capable to own and operate marginal fields, but the problem is that some people say we are not capable. We have gone through a lot of skills acquisition. We are being trained. We have Ijaw sons and daughters, people from the Niger Delta that can own marginal fields and operate it successfully.

  • Fuel supply: Osinbajo, PETAN back modular refineries

    Fuel supply: Osinbajo, PETAN back modular refineries

    •Let private investors run refineries

    The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has endorsed the building of modular refineries to solve the recurrent fuel scarcity in the country.

    He spoke at the two-day 2016 African Modular Refinery seminar in Lagos. Osinbajo, who was represented by Ambassador Jide Olu, in his goodwill message, highlighted the need for modular refineries, noting that they will not only address the fuel scarcity problem but move Nigeria away from being a net exporter of crude oil to a big producer and net exporter of petroleum products.

    He said there was no better time to start than now because of changes in the global oil and gas space. Rather than merely extracting crude oil and exporting it and importing finished products, Nigeria should take full advantage of the oil and gas sector by refining crude and exporting it. That will mean full use of the oil and gas resources, he added.

    He said: “The advent of shale oil and gas is a technological revolution that has changed the oil market, moving to an era of long low oil prices. We, therefore, need to add value to our oil and gas resources to remain competitive.

    “It is in this regard, the Federal Government will prioritise the adoption and execution of a National Oil and Gas Master Plan later this year,” adding that Nigeria and Africa should think of modular refinery in the content of regional value gains and market sizes since production is increasingly coordinated across various geographical locations.

    The Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Mr. Bank-Anthony Okoroafor, also agreed with the Vice President on the need to build more modular refineries to enable self-sufficiency in fuel production.

    Okoroafor urged the Federal Government to allow the four refineries it owns to be run by private investors to make them operate and produce optimally.

    In a chat with reporters, he said government has no business running refineries but to make policies that would drive business activities. “Refinery business is a business on its own. Governments do not run such businesses. It was good at the initial stage for government to kick-start such investments and be able to build capacity.Government has no capacity to run refineries,” he said.

    The PETAN chief criticised giving jobs in onshore and swamp terrains to foreign oil companies when competent indigenous companies are available. He said that the association is keen to achieve value added local content to Nigerians.

    He said PETAN’s goal is to bring jobs hitherto exported to other countries back to Nigeria, create a hub for oil and gas service in-country. He said before now, Nigeria loses $380 billion and two million jobs to capital flight on oil and gas service jobs.

    He said there is a Nigerian Content Law, which states that 100 per cent onshore, swamp jobs should be given to Nigerian companies.  “So any job that can be done by PETAN company or by a competent Nigerian  should not be given to somebody outside the country, it is criminal,” Okoroafor said.

    However, where there is skills gap, PETAN encourages alliance with foreign companies, primarily to grow capacity. He said at the height of militancy in the Niger Delta, expatriates fled the region while indigenous companies’ workers continued with the jobs without fear of being kidnapped.

    “Nobody can develop our country better than we can do. But anywhere that the capability does not exist in the country, anybody can do the job. But where the capability exists, it has to be done by the  Nigerian company,” he said.

  • Host communities back modular refinery project

    Leaders of the Onisiwo Island near Takwa Bay, Lagos, where the proposed modular refinery of Integrated Oil and Gas Limited will be located, have backed the project.

    At a public forum in Lagos, a leader of the baales and other members of the communities, Lateef Akinsode,  condemned the petitions against the project.

    In a communiqué after the stakeholders’meeting, the communities gave their support to the construction of the refinery. A resolution was reached between integrated oil and gas and the communities.

    Akinsode condemned the alleged petition and sponsored media attacks by Raymond Gold and Christina Armstrong Ogbonna against the project. The community leaders described the allegations as “deceitful and untrue” and dissociated themselves and their communities from it.

    He said the communities supported the proposed Tomaro Island refinery development project, adding that the  development that will follow the construction of the project will be enormous.

    The community leader said the communities disassociated themselves from the petition by Raymond Gold and Christina Armstrong Ogboon, asking the duo to apologise to the communities and the oil firm.

    “We, the Baales of the various communities on the Onisowo Island and the Onisowo family, hereby disassociate ourselves from this false representation of events on the island and would also wish to publicly apologise to the chairman of Integrated Oil and Gas for the embarrassment caused by the publication.”

    Contrary to the claim of Gold, the community leaders said they were aware of the plans of Integrated Oil and Gas for the island and had been carried along in all the discussions.

    “We are aware of the plans of Integrated Oil and Gas Limited for the island and we have had several engagements with the management over the last two years, including the meeting we held last month with the representatives of the Federal Ministry of Environment from Abuja as part of the initial preparation for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

    “Integrated Oil & Gas has always engaged with our communities through us, the Baales, and we have always passed down the information to members of our communities on their plans for the island. We know that these projects will bring development like roads, borehole water, electricity, among others, to the island and provide jobs for our youths.

    “It is clear that some people do not want progress to come to this island but instead they would wish to blackmail Integrated Oil and Gas in the hope to make money for themselves, hence the wicked letter and publication by these fellows,”they said.

    The Group Managing Director of Integrated Oil and Gas Limited, Mr. Anthony Iheanacho, said on April 2, its $116 million modular refinery would come on stream before the end of the year, adding that the company had been given provisional licence to commence preliminary work for a 20,000-barrel capacity modular refinery.

  • Encourage modular refineries, Fed Govt advised

    Encourage modular refineries, Fed Govt advised

    The Federal Government has been advised to fast-track the take-off of modular refineries  to complement the four refineries in Port Harcourt (Rivers State), Kaduna and Warri, Delta State.

    The operators, who spoke at a forum in Lagos, said modular refineries were vital to the country’s development, despite the  government’s decision  to return the legacy refineries to optimal use this year.

    Abuja Power Station, Chief Executive Officer,  Jameel Jammal said the traditional refineries and the modular refineries should co-exist to ensure adequate production and supply of fuel in the country.

    He said the decision by the government to allow modular refineries to operate would increase local production and further engender competition in the industry.

    He explained that modular refineries are smaller in size, refine small crude, and easy to manage, adding that modular refineries are operating in developed economies, such as United States, and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

    He urged the government to approve firms that demonstrate reasonable level of commitment and capacity, adding the idea would ensure that only the best people operate modular refineries in Nigeria.

    According to him, there are modular refineries that have the capacity to produce between 30,000 and 50,000 barrels of crude per day, stressing that his company has a modular refinery that would produce even more barrels per day.

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has just reduced the application fees for building modular refineries from $1million to $500,000  to enable more people to operate modular refineries.

    A don, Prof Adeola Akininisiju said the petroleum products production from the refineries is not in tandem with Nigeria’s population. He advised the government to license more operators to build more modular refineries in the country. When this happens, the country would be able to get enough fuel for socio-economic growth.

    He said it would take some time for the refineries to return to their initial refining of 450,000 barrels per day.

    Akininisiju, a Professor of Energy Economics, University of Ibadan said the government should consider to the establishment of modular refineries in view of the current  fuel challenges in Nigeria.

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said the refineries would resume production this year.

    The Corporation’s spokesman, Mr. Ohi Alegbe said the refineries in Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna will resume production next month after successful turnaround maintenance.

  • A case for modular refinery operators

    SIR: As President Muhammadu Buhari settles down to the serious business of governance, one key area that should quickly engage his attention is the petroleum industry. The reason for this is not farfetched. As a major player in the global oil market by the virtue of our natural crude endowment, it is ironical that the country is not only an importer of petroleum products, but also, experiences acute shortage on a constant basis.

    Due to the heavy dependence on the importation of petroleum products to augment local production, marketers have exploited the situation to perpetrate massive fraud as the subsidy fraud imbroglio showed. At will, they also hold the nation to ransom by withholding products from the market.

    To address the ugly situation, it has been suggested over the years that local refining of the crude oil is the most sustainable option. However, the combined capacity of the four refineries owned by the Federal Government is far below the daily oil requirements.

    The involvement of the private investors in establishing refineries becomes imperative. The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has issued a number of licences to various companies who showed interest over the last 10 years. Despite this, no privately-owned refinery is operational in Nigeria as of today.

    A lot of factors are responsible.  Many of the licence holders have accused DPR of shifting the goal post in the middle of the game concerning sourcing of crude, the major raw material. The initial arrangement was that there would be a sovereign guarantee of steady supply of crude by DPR to Nigeria-based refineries. A situation where no priority is accorded and operators would have to rely on off-shore crude sourcing is a major worry. Instead of selling crude to foreigners as a matter of priority, operators are demanding that national interest and investors concern should take precedence in arriving at a decision.

    The current oil subsidy regime by the Federal Government also constitutes a big headache for intending refinery owners. Except for diesel, all other petroleum products are currently being sold at a highly subsidised rate. With the possibility of private refinery operators production cost being higher than the current subsidized rates, there are fears that they might run into a huge loss if they invest in the refinery business. The operators are waiting to see how the new government addresses this disincentive.

    Two options are open for considerations: One, government assures operators of buying their products at the production cost so they could break even. Two, the sector is deregulated and allow market forces to determine pricing.

    Another huge concern is that of infrastructural challenge. Setting up a refinery comes with its peculiar challenges. In most cases, refineries are sited in locations that are far from city centres, where there are deficit in terms of infrastructural provision. Good access roads, constant electricity supply, hospitals, schools, among others are some of the facilities that the operators would expect the government to provide in order to support the social and economic needs of the refineries and their host communities. Leaving the investors to provide all these facilities aside the huge capital requirement of setting up the refineries would be highly discouraging.

    A critical area that government could help the operators is that of financing. The current high interest rate of domestic borrowing will surely have a negative effect on product pricing. The ordinary citizens will bear the brunt of high product price. Like the government did in some critical sectors like entertainment and aviation, operators have suggested an intervention fund would help a great deal.

    Government can also provide encouragement by granting generous waivers for the importation of needed materials and equipment for the projects.

    For the country to jump start the country’s oil industry and guarantee the availability of petroleum products for the citizens at all times, the establishment of local refineries is crucial. Government needs to support the licensed operators through the provision of conducive environment for them to thrive, bring succour to Nigerians and contribute substantially to the country’s economy by way of job creation, among other benefits.

     

    • Charles Daniel

    Lagos.