General Electric (NYSE:GE) has proposed to invest in upgrading Nigeria's three oil refineries, state-held Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said on Tuesday.
GE is proposing to invest in the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries.
"We were involved in the tenders that started around last year which was subsequently withdrawn but our commitment to bringing the refineries on-stream is still very deep and we are very serious about it. We propose that work commences either with the Warri or Port Harcourt Refinery as a pilot, as we set a target to improve the refinery capacity before the end of 2017,'' NNPC said, quoting a GE presentation to the state-run firm.
In addition, GE said it was ready "to make production in the offshore fields profitable for the benefit of both companies and other stakeholders", NNPC's statement says.
GE has been operating in Nigeria for more than 40 years in sectors including aviation, power generation, oil and gas, healthcare, and transportation.
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GE's proposal comes at the same time in which Italy's oil major Eni SpA signed on Tuesday deals to work with NNPC to boost development and exploration activities in the onshore, offshore and ultra deepwater operated areas. Eni and NNPC also agreed to cooperate in the upgrade of the Port Harcourt refinery.
Nigeria - whose oil production over the past year has been crippled by militant attacks in the Niger Delta - is also struggling with its run-down refineries. This further stretches its finances as it has to import refined petroleum products.
Under the model of direct sale of crude oil and direct purchase of petroleum products (DSDP), NNPC is accepting bids in a tender until February 2, 2017. Under this DSDP scheme, foreign refiners would receive Nigerian crude oil supplies in exchange for the delivery of an equal value of refined oil products to NNPC.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More