FG awards license to establish first hybrid crude export terminal

The Federal Government has awarded a licence for the establishment of Belema Sweet Export Terminal, which is Nigeria’s first Hybrid Crude Export Terminal, with an eight million barrels storage capacity.

The licence was presented on Tuesday in Abuja to Tein Jack-Rich, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of Belema Oil Producing Limited, through the Nigerian Mainstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

Presenting the licence Farouk Ahmed, CEO of NMDPRA reiterated the federal government’s commitment to the ease of doing business in Nigeria, adding that the indigenous oil company is the second to acquire such a license, after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Exploration and Production Limited.

Ahmed explained that except in accordance with the appropriate licence by the Authority, no company or entity had the right to engage in any exploration activity in the country, other than the two companies.

He added that no entity had the right to operate or establish a terminal or other facilities for the export or importation of crude oil or petroleum products.

”In line with this, the authority has processed and hereby approved terminal establishment licenses to these two organisations, one is the NNPC Exploration and Production Limited, with 2,179,704 barrels of crude oil terminal at Off Shore Akwa Ibom State within the waters of the exclusive zone, the second is the Belema Sweet Export Terminal in Kula, Rivers State, with 2million barrels of crude oil terminal,” Farouk said.

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He added that the terminals are expected to operate within the provisions of the conditions of the licences as contained in the document.

He urged investors to invest in the sector as the government was determined to ensure a business friendly environment for them.

In response, Jack-Rich, CEO, Belema Oil said with the establishment of Belema Sweet Crude Export Terminal, Nigeria now ranks number one in the world to establish a crude oil Export Terminal that is climate conscious, where traditional energy and renewable energy integration is operated through virtual power plant model.

”This is in line with energy efficiency/sustainability to protect our ecosystem, this will also create over 100,000 jobs for families in the Niger Delta and Nigeria at large,” he said .

Also speaking, Modibbo Ahmed, who received the licence on behalf of the NNPC, said that Nigeria should expect the crude oil terminal in the next one to three months.

Belema Sweet Export Terminal Project is designed to be the first hybrid crude oil export terminal in the world. It is a land-based terminal with good proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, via the San Bartholomeo River, for ease of offtake.

The terminal is divided into two sections; the crude oil processing terminal section and the oil export loading terminal section. The first phase of the project will comprise of a 2,000,000 million barrels storage capacity.

In addition, the terminal has 400,000 Barrel of Liquid per day central processing facility (CPF).

The export loading terminal would be able to receive any crude oil carrier size such as Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), Suezmax, Aframax, among others.