Frontline indigenous oil firm, Eterna oil and gas plc, declared at the weekend that it was ready to take part in bidding for any of the ailing refineries in Nigeria.

Chief Executive Officer of the company, Ibrahim Boyi, who disclosed this in an interview with Daily Independent, pointed out that the four refineries in Nigeria can still refine up to their 445, 000 barrels per day if the government privatised them.

The four refineries in Nigeria have been ailing prompting the government to begin moves to privatise them. Warri and Port Harcourt refineries have been shut. The Kaduna Refinery, though functioning, has no crude to process because the Warri plant, which feeds it is shut due to a damage to major pipelines.

Eterna Oil and Gas, according to its helmsman, has the expertise to make the refineries work within 18 months and "we are ready to partner international refinery companies to make sure that the shortfall in the country's refining capacity is addressed."

Throwing his weight behind the move by the government to privatise the four ailing refineries in the country, Boyi noted this step would address the incessant fuel crisis in Nigeria and it would take the country's oil and gas sector to greater heights.

"Our company has been maintaining the standard has confirmed by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and we have not hidden our resolve to improve the industry," he stressed.

The company, it would be recalled, opened its bid to source for fresh N9 billion fresh capital, in one week.

Observers have linked the confidence of the board and management of Eterna Plc, which necessitated their plans to raise the capital in just one week, at a time like this to the doggedness of its leadership.

The company's project is billed to take up N5.214 billion representing 63.60 per cent of the offer's net proceeds, comprising, according to the offer prospectus- "the bridge facility of N2.0 billion with Radix, N2.5 billion with Meristem, with the balance being accrued interest thereon."

This is followed by the investment in mid/upstream operations, Amakpe Refinery, Akwa Ibom State, which would gulp N750 million or 9.15 per cent and be completed in 12 months; while retail network acquisition expansion comprising three additional outlets in Lagos, one each in Abuja, Ibadan (Oyo State), Ijebu Ode (Ogun State), Port Harcourt (Rivers State), and Enugu (Enugu State), would be set up at the cost of N704 million or 8.59 per cent within the next six to eight months.

Another N729.547 million or 8.90 per cent of the net amount being sourced would be invested to enhance the company's working capital; just as N500 million or 6.10 per cent would be spent on the development of LPG and natural gas infrastructure in Ikot Abassi, also Akwa Ibom State between 18 and 24 months.

With these various projects being financed through the offer, will enable the company to greatly upscale its operations and increase its turnover generating ability as well as profitability, in the coming months and years.