Italian Oil Company, Eni to build crude oil refinery in Nigeria

Nigeria’s minister of state for petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu has disclosed that Italian oil company Eni plans to build a crude refinery in Nigeria.

Kachikwu made the disclosure while speaking to journalists on Tuesday.

According to Reuters, Nigeria has been seeking investment in the sector to reduce reliance on imported oil products that consume a large portion of the nation’s scarce foreign currency reserves.

“We reached an agreement that Agip will build a brand new refinery of 150,000 barrel capacity,” Kachikwu said after meeting Eni executives in Abuja.

It was gathered that a memorandum of understanding is being prepared by both parties to make the project a reality.

ENI executives had in January said that it would intensify oil and gas exploration in Nigeria and help to revamp the Port Harcourt oil refinery.