By Tony Abolo
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]saba, Delta State – A new and vertically integrated entity, known as The Shepha Refining and Petrochemical Company is to be sited in Ovrode in Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State.The Managing Director of the Refinery, Dr. Wilson Omonijabo Agha disclosed this to the Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa when he recently led a delegation of his working team to pay him a courtesy visit at the state house in Asaba, the state capital.
The visit, he stated, was to intimate the Governor of the new project which, according to him, will produce 60,000 barrels of oil per day with four components – Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Producing Plant, an Energy Generation Section, which will have a 400 MW Gas Turbine Power Plant.
Also in the package is a Refinery and Petrochemical section, a Carbon Capture and Storage Plant, a new technology Section which is the First in the whole of Africa, all at cost of $3.5 billion.
The project, Dr. Agha disclosed, will commence with a ground breaking ceremony in Ovrode, in about four-month time. he said it will all begin after the technical and financial partners who are coming in from India, Europe and Canada have visited the site of the project with a final courtesy visit on the Governor of Delta State, to be led by the Company’s Chairman, Engr. Barnabas Gemade.
The Governor, Dr. Okowa in his response expressed his pleasure at the new investment opportunity, saying that Delta was open for more investments and businesses, adding that it would increase not only opportunities for employment, but improved internally generated revenue for the Government.
Given the location of the project, the Governor said he was confident that the raw stock for the refinery would not constitute a challenge and pleased by the fact that the Managing Director was not only an Isoko, but an indigene of the community.
He also touted the pedigree of the Chairman of the company as a guarantee for the success of the project.
Okowa then pledged adequate security from Government for Shepha Refinery and Petrochemical Company from its very inception and looked forward to when he will have the honor to not only perform the groundbreaking ceremony but to formally commission a project of that magnitude in Delta State.
Present during the courtesy visit, were members of the State Executive Council, members of the, Delta House of Assembly as well as a Special Adviser to the Governor.
