why we can't build refinery in Nigeria.-Shell

Why we can't build
refinery in Nigeria-Shell
On March 2, 2012 · In
News 3:00 pmTweet
Mr Malcolm Brinded, the
outgoing Executive
Director of Shell Petroleum
Development Company
(SPDC), says the company
cannot build a refinery in
Nigeria because there are
surplus refineries across
the world.
Brinded, who is in-charge
of the Upstream
International unit of the
company, made the
statement in an interview
with the State House
correspondents, after a
farewell visit to President
Goodluck Jonathan at the
State House.
The out-going Shell chief
in Nigeria, who led a
delegation to the State
House, Abuja, said rather
than build new refineries,
the company was
divesting from those it
had interest in around the
world.
"With respect to
downstream, two
comments there. Shell is
divesting from refineries
all over the world because
there is a surplus of
refineries; we no longer
own any refineries even in
the United Kingdom.
"I will also say because of
the surplus of refineries
available in a way, one has
to look very closely
whether building new
refineries is a good
investment for anyone not
just for Shell but for
countries involved.
"In today's world, not
looking at the past but
where we are today, there
is surplus of refinery
capacity which essentially
means many refineries in
the world run at a loss.
"Which also means one
can get refined products
back again and pay very
little for it to be refined,''
he said.
Brinded said that building
refineries was no longer
profitable and that
informed the company's
decision to invest in the
gas sector.
According to him, Shell
would continue to invest
in the development of the
gas sector, adding: "I do
believe that investment in
the downstream sector,
especially gas sector in
Nigeria, as I touched on, is
very important.
"Nigeria has huge
resources of gas that have
yet to be unlocked and the
potential to add to that
gas not only in power but
in other ways in the
country.
"I think there are a lot of
opportunities for Nigeria
and for Shell in Nigeria
and the potential much
more than to consider
refining.''
Comments are moderated.
Please keep them clean
and brief.