Paucity of funds hampering completion of our modular refinery —PTI Principal

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Principal and Chief Executive of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Professor Sunny Iyuke, has lamented the institute’s inability to complete the modular refinery due to paucity of funds.

This is just as he called on the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, to intervene in spelling out PTI’s actual role in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that is still hanging in the balance.

PTI, it will be recalled, was mandated by the erstwhile Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, during 2017 graduation ceremony to design and develop a modular refinery.

Prof Iyuke dropped the complaint on Saturday at the institute’s 2019 Graduation Ceremony held at the PTI Conference Centre, Effurun-Warri, Delta State.

According to him, “the institute has completed the preliminary design for the modular refinery, but the next stage of development and equipment procurement became a huge challenge due to paucity of funds.”

He equally expressed his displeasure over the non-arrival of printing machines acquired to upgrade the Printing Press belonging to the Petroleum Training Institute (PTDF) by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) which he said has been making the Printing Press to operate below capacity.

He subsequently appealed to the executive secretary of PTDF to assist PTI in acquiring the necessary licenses to hasten the arrival of the printing press machines.

Prof Iyuke, who congratulated Chief Sylva on his deserved appointment as minister, further appealed to the PTDF executive Secretary to help renew the software application licences for some of the institute’s laboratory and workshop equipment.

Meanwhile, the Chairman, PTI Governing Council, Mr Ahmad Rufai Shakur, in his address, disclosed that the construction of the stalled modular refinery billed to produce 1,500 Barrels Per Day of crude oil when completed, would generate electricity, help students in practicals and industrial training as well as serve as a centre for research and development.

Shakur, who appealed to all stakeholders in the energy sector to collaborate with PTI in research and training, appealed to NUPENG and PENGASSAN to continue to sustain the existing industrial harmony.

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