The Federal Government approved and signed permits on Tuesday for the construction of two crude oil export terminals, which have the potential to bring in $11 billion in revenue yearly for the nation.
Belema Sweet Export Terminal Limited and NNPC Exploration and Production Limited received the licenses through the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority in Abuja.
Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive of NMDPRA, said during the occasion in Abuja that the addition of more than four million barrels of oil capacity to Nigeria’s export storage will result from the signing of the terminal establishment licences for the two crude export terminals.
“Our current operations are in accordance with the Petroleum Industry Act’s (PIA) new provisions for the construction of new export terminals.
According to PIA Section 174(1)(a), “A person shall not engage in any of the following activities with respect to midstream petroleum liquids operations, except in accordance with an appropriate licence issued by the Authority: (a) establish, construct, or operate a terminal or other facility for the export or importation of crude oil or petroleum products.
The terminals establishment licenses for: (a) NNPC Exploration and Production Limited to develop a 2,179,747 barrel crude oil terminal at offshore Akwa Ibom State inside the waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone Nigeria have been processed by the authorities and are hereby approved.(a) The establishment of a 2,000,000 barrel crude oil terminal by Belema Sweet Export Terminal Limited at 20 nautical miles from Kula in Nigeria’s Exclusive Economic Zone, according to Ahmed.
He noted that subsequent to these licences, terminal establishment notices were to be published in the Federal Government gazette.
“The terminals are required to operate within the provisions of the conditions of the licences as contained in the licence documents. Kindly note that the authority is committed to ease of doing business in the industry,” the NMDPRA boss stated.
The President and Founder Belema Oil Producing Limited, Tien Jack-Rich, said the facilities would generate over $11bn annually for Nigeria, adding that Belema Oil would work hard to get its terminal ready within six months.
“Nigeria will benefit through the revenue earnings from the facility. This terminal has the capacity to generate over $11bn to our national revenue every single year, and that’s 400,000 barrels of crude every single day,” he stated.
He added, “With the establishment of Belema Sweet Crude Export Terminal, Nigeria now ranks number one in the world to establish a crude oil export terminal that is climate-conscious, where traditional energy and renewable energy integration is operated through a virtual power plant model.
