$3.5bn Brass Fertiliser Project to Kick Off in October

The Managing Director of the Brass Fertiliser and Petrochemical Company, Chief Ben Okoye, has stated that work on the $3.5 billion project would start in October this year.

Chief Okoye explained that the 10,000 metric tonnes of methanol per day project was delayed as there was no agreement reached on the gas component but that President Tinubu last October directed the Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas) to get it started and that the agreement was signed in January this year.

Speaking when he led management of the company on a visit to Governor Douye Diri at the government house on Tuesday, Okoye assured the state government that the necessary steps have been taken to implement the project in full.

He thanked the governor for constructing the Nembe-Brass road, which he noted would save the company up to $100,000 in logistics costs in moving equipment and materials on the river to the project site.

Responding, Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, solicited for state’s government equity stake in the project.

The governor said the state’s position became necessary due to the negative fallouts in excluding oil producing states and local governments from the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

He stated that implementation of the PIA had been hampered in host communities due to the anomaly in the legislation.