Stakeholders in the oil and gas sector have advised the CBN to create a unique window of forex access to facilitate seamless operations of modular refineries in the country.
They spoke at the Nigerian Content Midstream and Downstream Oil and Gas Summit, which opened in Lagos on Monday and ended on Tuesday.
Their advice was part of a communiqué issued on Wednesday in Lagos which was signed by Mr Dan Kikile, the Manager Corporate Communications, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the two-day summit had as its theme: “Maximising Potential in the Midstream and Downstream Oil and Gas Sector- A Local Content Perspective’’.
The stakeholders urged relevant authorities to adopt creative initiatives to address the nagging issue of irregular supply of feedstock to the modular refineries, which was hamperring the smooth operations of the plants.
They also urged the Federal Government to divest from the petroleum depots and address the dysfunctions of Nigerian pipeline infrastructure.
The stakeholders also requested that the NCDMB should consult more with midstream and downstream stakeholders to co-produce solutions to the peculiar challenges confronting the sectors.
They listed the challenges to include sustenance of subsidies, inconsistent supply of feedstock, and the broken product distribution infrastructure.
The stakeholders also highlighted the challenges that modular refinery operators face in sourcing forex and called attention to the hurdles and delays that complicate the process of operationalising a valid import waiver.
Other suggestions pointed to the need to encourage accelerated investment in modernising and up scaling the local supply chain to ease petroleum product distribution.
They also urged the authorities to formulate and implement policies and interventions to support indigenous operators and make them globally competitive in terms of quality delivery and product pricing.
The recommendation also included the need to incentivise the collocation of modular refineries and the depots at the Free Trade Zones to enable easy offtake of petroleum products and promotion of gas utilisation.
The stakeholders observed that the midstream and downstream sectors had numerous leverage points to create value and these opportunities were yet to be fully explored.
They thanked the leadership of NCDMB for tenaciously building the momentum of Nigerian content and urged all stakeholders to support the organisation to sustain the progress achieved so far. (NAN)
