IPMAN Executive visits, inspects OPAC Refinery in Kwale, Delta state, ahead of commissioning

Executive members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria led by its president, Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo, undertook a facility tour of the OPAC modular refineries in Kwale, Delta State.

It was learnt that the visit was to assess the refining capacity and perform oversight on the preparedness of the refinery ahead of the commissioning.

Chairman of OPAC Refineries, Mr. Momoh Oyarekhua, said that his company, being one of the local set-up and indigenous refining companies in Nigeria, is determined to provide a better alternative to petroleum products supply and ease the pressure on the foreign exchange.

Speaking, the IPMAN President said: “We are now beginning to have the belief that Nigerians can solve their problems, this 10’000 barrels capacity per day by OPAC has shown that there is no other way than to allow the business of refining to be run by Nigerians.

“The management of OPAC Refineries has displayed a lot of uncommon innovation into the management of the refinery. With what we are seeing today, we are very happy and proud that this country has a wonderful future where our refining will be done locally. It will save us a lot of money and a lot of stress.

“Having been very satisfied with what we have seen so far today, I want to assure you that IPMAN is set to automatically become a major off-taker of products from OPAC Refineries. We make this commitment with firm confidence that our partnership with OPAC refineries will bring about greater improvement and progress in the Oil& Gas industry.”

Speaking on behalf of OPAC, Willy Awili, who is Project Coordinator, said: “On behalf of management and the entire leadership of OPAC Refineries here in Kwale, we want to express our profound gratitude to IPMAN for having been a crucial stakeholder in the Oil and Gas Industry, we thank the executive of IPMAN for coming to Kwale, and it has shown that as Nigerians we are having the mind of true Nigerians, which is to lift Nigeria for the good of us all through support for indigenous businesses.”

OPAC Refineries management during the tour hinted that it has the technology for gas reuse which is designed in such a way that the residual gas from the refinery unit is channeled back into the system as fuel for the burner, making the unit resource-efficient.

It noted that the modular refinery maintains high safety standards with equipment, fittings, and connection pipelines with temperatures higher than 50°C thoroughly insulated.

OPAC Refineries is a critical component of OMSA PILLAR ASTEX COMPANY Limited; the business vehicle is a consortium of OMSA Integrated Services Limited, Pillar Refining Company Limited, and Astex General Trading FZE Limited.