Petroleum institute completes modular refinery, to commercialise output

The Petroleum Training Institute, an agency of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, has announced the completion of its modular refinery with a target to scale up its capacity for commercial purposes.

PTI, located in Effurun, Delta State, also stated that it was training artisanal refiners on the skills required for the refining of crude oil.

The Chief Executive, PTI, Adebowale Adimula, disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja, ahead of the 3rd Biennial International Conference on Hydrocarbon Science & Technology, coming up in the Federal Capital Territory next week.

He said, “One of the areas that we have been looking at over the past few years is developing technologies in the modular refinery space. We are a training institution primarily, but when you look at the country today and the lack of technology among the artisanal refiners, one of the things we have done is to develop concepts.

“We also help in training the individuals so that whatever they do will not adversely affect the environment. We at the institute have built up our own. Now what is next is to scale it up, to find ways to make it commercial.

“But as an institute we have that already, we have our template, drawings and all the fabricated parts and everything, so that it is easier to now bring people in, teach them on the various components of what they will encounter in the field.”

Adimula further stated that “what we have today are people who know next to nothing about refining, they just go into the creeks, break pipes and begin to boil or cook oil.

“No, we are doing it differently by training and equipping them with the necessary skills that will make them able to contribute meaningfully to the economy.”

He further explained that though the refinery was not as big as the facility built by Dangote in Lekki, Lagos, the modular refinery would advance technologies in the modular refinery space.

“The facility we are working on is not to create a refinery that will now be like the Dangote refineries of this world, no. Our primary focus, which we are not losing sight of, is that we are a training institution and whatever we develop will help the advancement of technology in that space,” Adimula stated.