Sterling Bank has provided guarantee for the $100 million (about N11.18 billion) Amakpe International Refinery, which is expected to process about 12,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

President and Chief Executive Officer of the refinery, Chief Usua Amanam, who made the disclosure during an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos yesterday, said everything is already on ground to ensure that the refinery begins production in 12 months.

According to him, the project, which is to be located at the Qua Iboe basin in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, is already on stream, while 50 per cent of the mechanical and electrical design has been completed.

"I can assure you that we have the revalidation of our licence by the Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the engineering design is about 80 per cent complete while the crude oil will be supplied by Exxon Mobil," he said.

Amanam noted that the new refinery will be one of the most modern in the world, adding that it won't be as complex and huge as the conventional refineries, which require a lot funds to effect Turn Around Maintenance (TAM).

The Amakpe Refinery boss said the new project would be based on modular system, which makes it very easy to operate and maintain, "if one part goes bad, that could be fixed while the other parts can continue to produce."

Responding, the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive of Sterling Bank, Yemi Adeola, said the refinery project would be the first indigenous refinery to be completed in the country.

According to him, the bank has provided the required guarantee for the US Exim Bank's financing of the project. He noted that the first phase of the project will gulp $36. 5 million, while the second phase of the refinery project will cost about $57 million. The additional funding would be for the execution of the pipelines for the crude oil, refined products as well as the storage tanks.

He noted that the financing and guarantee from the bank would prove adequate support for the subcontractors in line with the local content policy of the Federal Government.

It is expected that the new Amakpe refinery project, on completion, will provide fresh employment opportunities for at least 250 Nigerians directly, while thousands others will be indirectly catered for.

The DPR had about five years ago, licensed about 18 private refineries, but cancelled them in 2006 when all of them failed to meet the deadline for them, to take off. There was however a revalidation exercise last year in which Amakpe's licence was recertified. Others are also going through different processes of revalidation.