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Nigeria plans new refineries with Venezuela and Iran
THE Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Edmund Daukoru, says that Nigeria is negotiating with several oil companies including state-run firms from Venezuela and Iran, on the basis of establishing two refineries that will cost about $6 billion. "Iran, Venezuela, as well as oil majors Total, Shell, and Chevron are involved in these discussions," he said.
The capacity of each refinery could be around 200,000 barrels, and the Minister further said that India, which has already been looking at other energy investments in Nigeria, is also looking at the possibility of taking a stake in the refineries. Negotiations are also taking place with some of the companies about building production facilities to convert cassava, a root vegetable that is a staple food in Nigeria, into ethanol.
Nigeria has long had insufficient crude refining capacity to meet domestic demand, forcing it to spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on importing refined oil products. Daukoru says the country's four state-run refineries have for years operated at reduced capacity, due largely to poor management and maintenance, and sabotage.
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