Privately held BUA Group, Lagos, has let a contract to Axens Group of France to provide a suite of technologies and other services for the conglomerate’s recently proposed project to build a 200,000-b/d grassroots integrated refining and petrochemical plant in Nigeria's state of Akwa Ibom.
Alongside delivering licensing for its various proprietary process technologies, Axens also will provide basic engineering, proprietary equipment, catalysts, adsorbents, as well as training and technical services, for the planned multibillion-dollar complex that will produce Euro 5-quality fuels and polypropylene for Nigeria’s domestic and regional markets, the service provider said.
“Once completed, this RFCC-based complex will produce high-quality gasoline, diesel, [and] jet fuel meeting [Euro 5-quality] specifications for the Nigerian market and the larger region,” said Abdul Samad Rabiu, BUA Group’s chairman and chief executive officer.
“In addition, [the complex] will produce propylene, an essential component for the petrochemical industry used in polypropylene-based plastics and packaging. This large complex will help in reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imported fuels and petrochemicals,” Rabiu added.
While Axens did not reveal details regarding a value of the contract or the specific process technologies it will provide for the project, the technology suite presumably will include a selection of its various RFCC technologies as well as its proprietary Prime-G+ process for catalytically cracked gasoline selective desulfurization, according to links provided in Axens’ release announcing the contract award.
The proposed integrated complex is scheduled to be completed in 2024, BUA Group said in a series of posts to its official Twitter account.
Regional refining update
The newly launched refining project by BUA Group follows a Sept. 1 announcement from Nigeria’s Department of Petroleum Resources that the country will become a net exporter of petroleum products by 2022 as a result of new domestic refining capacity scheduled to come online during the next 2 years.
In addition to Nigeria’s existing five refineries—including federally owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.’s (NNPC) four refineries with a combined capacity of 445,000 b/sd and Niger Delta Exploration & Production PLC subsidiary Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Ltd.’s (NDPR) 11,000-b/d refinery in Ogbele field in Rivers State—DPR said the country’s status as a net exporter of petroleum products will be achieved with the pending startup of the first 7,000 b/sd phase of Waltersmith Petroman Oil Ltd. subsidiary Waltersmith Refining & Petrochemical Ltd.’s 30,000-b/d modular refinery at Ibigwe oil field, in the Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State, as well as the scheduled 2021 commissioning of Dangote Industries Ltd. (Dangote Group) subsidiary Dangote Oil Refining Co.'s 650,000-b/d grassroots integrated refining and petrochemical complex in southwestern Nigeria’s Lekki Free Trade Zone (OGJ Online, July 7, 2020; Mar. 4, 2020).
To date, DPR has awarded licenses set to expire in 2022 for a total of 27 modular refineries with a combined capacity of 375,000 b/sd, the regulator said.
In its latest monthly operations report for June 2020, NNPC said its refineries processed no crude oil volumes, owing largely to ongoing rehabilitation works at the manufacturing sites (OGJ Online, Apr. 14, 2020).
