Oil marketers have paid a visit to the Port Harcourt Refinery Company in Rivers State and have expressed optimism that the plant may start releasing refined petroleum products this month.
Dealers under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria said the rehabilitation of the plant had been largely completed.
They said the facility should be ready this month as earlier hinted by the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari.
On March 15, 2024, media reported that Kyari had stated that the Port Harcourt refinery would commence operations in about two weeks.
Although this has not happened, officials of NNPC Ltd stated in Abuja on Wednesday that key safety and regulatory compliance tests were currently ongoing at the plant.
This came as oil marketers told our correspondent that the plant would start releasing products any time soon, based on their visit to the facility, as well as information from members working at the refinery.
The Port Harcourt Branch Chairman, IPMAN, Tekena Ikpaki, who disclosed this during a telephone conversation, noted that the management of the refinery had also assured dealers that the plant would begin operations soon.
When asked whether marketers in Port Harcourt were being briefed about developments at the refinery and why the plant had yet to commence production, he replied, “Everything is good, nothing has gone wrong.
“It is just the completion of minor mechanical and electrical problems but majorly electrical issues. Other than that there is nothing to worry about. They have received their raw material already which is the crude oil for them to start cracking, but the process has not started.
“From what we’ve seen, they are good to go, it is just the tidying up of the processes that are on now. Once that is concluded, the refinery will kick off.”
The IPMAN official said his team visited the plant and saw the level of work at the facility, adding that the kick-off of production of refined products could begin before the end of this month.
“I visited the refinery and also spoke with the managing director. If you ask me when the kick-off will start, I will say it is just like a glowing speed because it could start at any time from now.
“Production may start any time soon before this month’s end based on what we saw. However, for a plant that has been moribund for a very long time, it is going to take a lot of time to revamp it and start production again.
“So as at the last count and from our conversations with the management of the refinery, it is just remaining minor touches and they are doing a lot to wrap up the work. I also get regular calls with people in the field at the plant,” Ikpaki stated.
In the March 15 report by The PUNCH, Kyari stated that mechanical works had been completed on the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries, stressing that the Kaduna refinery would commence operations in December.
The NNPC boss had disclosed this during a press briefing after he appeared before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee investigating the various Turn Around Maintenance projects of the country’s refineries.
He said, “We are serving this country with honour and dignity. And we will make sure that the promises we make on the rehabilitation of these refineries will take place.
“We did a mechanical completion of the refinery that was what we said in December. We now have crude oil already stocked in the refinery. We are doing regulatory compliance tests that must happen in every refinery before you start it, and I assure you that this Port Harcourt refinery will start in the next two weeks.
“Completing the mechanical work means that you are done with the rehabilitation work, now you have to test to see how it works. Of course, we have also completed the mechanical work on the Warri refinery. It is also undergoing regulatory compliance; processes that we are doing with our regulator, and this will soon be completed and it will be ready.
“Kaduna refinery will be ready by December. We have not reached that stage in Kaduna, but we promise Kaduna will be delivered by December.”
Kyari had also told the Senate that over 450,000 barrels of oil had been stocked into the Port Harcourt refinery.
“All crude lines are active and have actually delivered over 450,000 barrels into Port Harcourt refinery. We are confident of the integrity of it. Yes, there may be security issues, but also the government is responding to the situation,” he stated.
A senior management official confirmed on Wednesday that the plant was good to begin production, but noted that all necessary tests must be concluded before refined products would be pumped out of the refinery.
“The plant is ready but safety and regulatory compliance tests in line with global standards must be completed before they start releasing products to the market,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, stated.
In December 2023, media reported that the Federal Government announced the mechanical completion of rehabilitation work on the Area-5 Plant of the Port Harcourt Refining Company.
It stated at the time that the first phase of the plant had been completed, as the facility would start refining 60,000 barrels of crude oil after the Christmas break of last year. This, however, did not happen.
About 170 litres of refined petroleum products can be obtained from a barrel of crude oil. This implies that the 60,000bpd production from the Port Harcourt refinery can provide an estimated 10.2 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol and other refined products once it begins operations.
NNPC Ltd, which is the manager of the refinery, had also revealed that the second phase of the facility would be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024 and would lead to the refining of 150,000bpd crude by the facility.
The rehabilitation work at the Port Harcourt refinery has been ongoing for over two years and the NNPC had pledged to complete phase one of the project (mechanical completion and flare start-up) of Old Port Harcourt Refinery (Area-5) by December 31, 2023.
The PHRC rehabilitation project, which costs about $1.5bn, is an EPCIC project that covers the Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation, and Commissioning phases.
On April 7, 2021, media reported that the NNPC officially signed a contract with Tecnimont SPA for the $1.5bn rehabilitation programme of the Port Harcourt Refining Company.
Parties in the agreement also announced the commencement of the project following the signing of the contract at the headquarters of the corporation in Abuja.
Kyari had explained at the time that the agreement was basically between PHRC and Tecnimont SPA, as the contract was for the provision of engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning services for the refinery rehabilitation project.
Nigerians are eagerly awaiting the production of refined petroleum products, particularly petrol, from indigenous refineries operated by the NNPC and that of Dangote.
