A contract to kickstart construction of a modular refinery aimed perhaps at reducing, no matter how little, the heavy import dependence on PMS of a major crude oil producer – Nigeria was awarded by Waltersmith Petrolman Oil, a subsidiary of Waltersmith Refining & Petrochemicals.
The 5, 000 barrels per day, bpd contract was reported to have gone to JV Company, Velem, made up of a Lagos-based Lambert Electronics and VFuels LLC of Houston.
Velem according to news report is expected to provide the engineering, procurement, construction, and modular refinery fabrication for the processing site that, once completed, will refine Nigerian crude from Ibigwe onshore field in eastern Niger Delta. The project is billed to be completed in 18 months.
The award is sequel to the Nigerian Department of Petroleum Resources’ (DPR) granting of licenses for the project to Waltersmith, which previously finalized equity and debt financing through local and multinational financiers.
Meanwhile the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) lost 1,087 MW due to gas pipeline ruptures and challenges with Shell gas wells. This also, according to the General Manager, Public Affairs of the transmission company Ndidi Mbah, culminated, rather reinforced load-shedding method to stabilize the grid.
“As a result of gas pipeline rupture on June 15, 2018, as well as technical issues at the Shell gas wells on June 16, there has been a sharp drop in generation into the grid by a total of 1,087.6MW, resulting in load-shedding nationwide, necessary to maintain stability of the grid”, TCN was quoted to have said in a statement.
Six thermal power generating stations, says TCN were also shut down because they have been unable to generate electricity as issues of indebtedness and gas delivery by the Nigerian Gas Company heighten.
The statement said: “With a total loss of 1,087.6 MW into the grid, the transmission system has become quite fragile and TCN is working hard to avert a collapse of the system, by engaging in load-shedding.”
