US Ex-Im Bank approves loan for Nigeria's first privately financed refinery

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, Feb. 9 -- The US Export Import Bank has approved a loan guarantee for more than $10 million to finance the construction of Phase 1 of the proposed 12,000 b/d Amakpe Modular refinery project at Eket in Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria. The plant will be Nigeria's first privately financed refinery (OGJ Online, Mar. 5, 2001).

Phase 1 of the project, estimated to cost about $29.8 million and scheduled to start production by February 2005, covers the manufacture and installation of a 6,000 b/d crude distillation unit, a 120,000 bbl capacity tank farm, pipelines, boiler and blower systems, and desalter and cooling tower systems.

Phase 2 of the project will involve the additional installation of a 6,000 b/d distillation unit, a 4,000 b/d catalytic reformer-hydrotreater, a 3 Mw power plant, and a 120,000 bbl capacity tank farm and accessories. Phase 2 completion and integration into Phase 1 is slated for completion by January 2006; production start-up is expected by February 2006.

Combined, Phases 1 and 2 will cost a total of about $65 million.

The Amakpe refinery has been designed as a modular plant and will process 35.8° gravity Qua Iboe crude oil. Phase 1 will process 6,000 b/d of oil into 1,097 b/d of naphtha, 1,420 b/d of kerosine, 1,498 of diesel fuel, and 1,857 b/d of fuel oil.

In Phase 2, the refinery will produce 3,193 b/d of gasoline, 1,496 b/d of kerosine, 2,990 b/d of diesel, and 3,707 b/d of fuel oil.

The refinery will source its feedstock from the ExxonMobil Corp. Qua Iboe terminal.

A consortium of Energy Management Corp. of Houston and Ventech Engineers International will operate and manage the Amakpe refinery for 7 years.