Port Harcourt refinery to begin operation in December – Minister

Tamarauemi Ebimini

The Nigerian government on Friday said the Port Harcourt refinery will become functional by December.

A statement signed by Garba Deen Muhammad, the chief corporate communications officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), made this known on Friday.

The statement said the 60,000 barrels per day Port Harcourt Refinery was shut in March 2019 for the first phase of repair works after the government secured the service of Italy’s Maire Tecnimont to handle the scoping of the refinery complex, with oil major Eni appointed as a technical adviser.

In 2021, the NNPCL said repairs had started after the federal executive council approved $1.5 billion for the project.

Last September, the then Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said the country’s biggest crude refinery in Port Harcourt would restart operation in December after it would have completed a revamp that began over a year ago. But PREMIUM TIMES analysis in October last year showed that the timelines were unmet.

Again, in January 2023, Mr Sylva assured that part of the refinery would be completed by the year’s first quarter, but the government has again failed to meet its target.

On Friday, Mr Muhammad said the federal government has reiterated its commitment to ending petroleum product importation soon, as efforts are being redoubled to restore the nation’s local refining capacity.

According to the statement, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, said this during an inspection tour of the rehabilitation work progress at the refining company plant in Port Harcourt on Friday.

It explained that the minister, who was in the company of the Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Gabriel Aduda and the Group CEO, NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari, said considering the level of progress recorded in the PHRC rehabilitation project, the plant will come back on stream by December this year.

Mr Lokpobiri also said he was satisfied with the ongoing rehabilitation work at the Port Harcourt refinery, noting that once all the refineries are back on stream, Nigerians will enjoy a better supply of petroleum products, and foreign exchange will be domesticated, leading to an improved economy.

Also, the Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said: “We are here to go into the field. Yesterday was the era of subsidies. Today, we don’t have subsidies. Today, people are in a desperate situation to heave a sigh of relief and see how to live. You all know that petrol is very vital to our economy. All hands must be on deck to ensure that the refineries are working,” he said.

In his remarks, the NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, said bringing back the refineries to their optimal levels is a national aspiration, and the company remains focused on delivering that.