Nigeria’s state-owned energy company Nigerian National Petroleum Co. (NNPC) has signed a $741 million deal with Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. to rehabilitate an oil refinery in the northern city of Kaduna, Bloomberg reported on February 2.
Under the terms of the agreement, South Korea’s Daewoo will restore production at the inoperative 110,000 barrels-a-day facility to at least 60% of its capacity by the end of 2024.
According to Bloomberg, the deal is part of the NNPC’s efforts to reduce Nigeria’s near total reliance on imported fuel. The company has also acquired a 20% stake in a vast 650,000 barrel-a-day complex being built outside Lagos by Africa’s richest person, Aliko Dangote, which after repeated delays may enter production later this year.
The NNPC will finance Daewoo’s recovery work at the Kaduna plant — which was commissioned in 1980 — through a mix of its own revenue and third party financing, the state company said, without identifying any lenders.