Kenya Petroleum Refineries Ltd. (KPRL) has implemented a new solution from IBM to increase the productivity and efficiency of the company’s oil refinery operations in East Africa. The agreement was finalized by IBM’s business partners Computer Source Point Ltd. and Powertech IST Data. The new IBM solution will allow KPRL to manage, measure and track the life cycle of its oil-processing equipment such as pipes, heat exchangers, pumps, valves, boilers, furnaces, compressors, tanks and turbines.

Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Ltd. (NDPR), the fully owned subsidiary of Niger Delta Exploration & Production Plc (NDEP), has been granted a license to operate (LTO) the Ogbele mini refinery. This license, granted by the federal government of Nigeria, is said to be the first of its kind to be granted to an independent, publicly owned Nigerian company. It gives NDPR full authority to operate its mini diesel refinery (topping plant) at the Ogbele Field in old OML 54 (Rivers State).

The LTO will make NDPR’s mini diesel refinery the first independently owned and fully operational diesel refinery in Nigeria. The refinery has an initial capacity of 1,000 bpd. It commenced production in December 2010, using crude-oil feed from NDPR’s existing Ogbele flowstation.   HP