2013 it would commence the refining of 20,000 barrels of crude oil per day at a new oil refinery in the south-eastern part of the country.

Despite being one of the top ten oil producers in the world Nigeria, imports petroleum products and supplies its local demand at a subsidized rate accumulating heavy financial burden on budget. In 2012, 888 billion naira ($5.5 billion) of the country’s 4.7 trillion naira ($29.3) total budget was swallowed by fuel subsidy.

The prolonged dilapidated state of its refineries has contributed to the sour development. Previous efforts to build new refineries were cancelled or have been unexplainably sluggish.

According to Reuters, Africa’s biggest oil producer has only four refineries at the moment, with an estimated production capacity of 445,000 barrels per day but their eventual production is only 30 percent of the reported capacity.

OPR Chairman Emeka Anyaoku said at the inauguration of the project: “We expect that by the end of next year we should be refining 20,000 barrels of oil everyday and gradually after that we will build up to 35,000 then 55,000 and possibly higher.”