Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu has said the Federal Government needs about $1.2 billion to repair three refineries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

While speaking at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday, Kachikwu dismissed reports that the Port Harcourt refinery will be conceded to Oando and Agip companies.

He said the committee established for the purpose of selection had not yet submitted its report.

“We have not selected any firm yet even though some firms have shown interests,” he said.

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“We need about 1.2 billion dollars to repair and bring the three refineries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna, up to 100 percent production level.”

He added, “The total cumulative amount is in the 1.1 billion dollars and 1.2 billion dollars category between all the refineries. And that, of course, does not include the pipelines.

“You have got to address the pipelines and that is something else that is being done.”

He explained that Nigeria spent about N4.74 trillion on the importation of petrol in the past year.

“The importation of petroleum products between January and December of last year amounted to about 20 million metric tonnes,” he added.

“A total amount of N3.4 trillion was spent, the consumption of FX from CBN was approximately 30 percent of CBN total FX outlay, and the logistic costs of that importation was about N1.34 trillion within the same one-year period.”