The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), says it has acquired a 20 percent equity in a 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery project, being established by the African Refinery Group Limited, in partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC L).
A statement issued by the Corporate Communication Department of the NCDMB on Sunday evening, said the share purchase agreement signed for the investment would make NCDMB a key partner in the African Refinery Port Harcourt Limited (ARPHL), being co-located within the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited, operated by the NNPC Limited, in Alesa, Eleme, Rivers State.
The statement said the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Felix Omatsola Ogbe, signed the agreement at the board’s liaison office in Abuja, while the Managing Director, African Refinery Port Harcourt Limited, Mr. Tosin Adebajo, signed on behalf of the company.
The NCDMB boss remarked that the equity investment is the first to be sealed under his leadership.
He confirmed that the board subjected the proposal through rigorous technical, commercial and regulatory reviews, and decision gates, in line with NCDMB’s commercial ventures investment policy.
He said the board had also instituted a robust corporate governance procedure, that would safeguard its investment, and ensure optimal performance of the refinery project.
According to him, the deal is part of the board’s commercial venture programme, which is supported by Section 70 (h) of the NOGICD Act, where NCDMB is charged to “assist local contractors and Nigerian companies to develop their capabilities and capacities in furtherance of Nigerian content development in the oil and gas industry.
The executive secretary noted that the board’s commercial venture investments are also geared to catalyze federal government’s strategic policies, provide job creation opportunities in the construction, and operation phases, and add value to the nation’s hydrocarbon resources.
He added that the shares for the African Refinery Port Harcourt Limited project were purchased under the Nigerian Content Intervention Company Limited, a company limited by guarantee, and wholly owned by the NCDMB.
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Details of the investment indicate that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), holds a 15 percent equity investment in the refinery project, having executed a share subscription agreement in 2024.
The promoters of the project, African Refinery Group had in 2016 won a competitive bid to co-locate a crude oil refinery within the site of the Port Harcourt Refinery Complex, and it executed an agreement to run and operate a 100,000 BPD refinery on 45 hectares of vacant land within the battery limit of the refinery complex.
The company also signed a sub-lease agreement with NNPCL in 2019, giving her a 45.466 hectares within the refinery complex for a tenure of 64 years.
According to the investment plan, NCDMB will divest from the refinery at the end of the seventh year, counting from the commercial operations date.
