Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NNPCL, has announced that the second phase of Port-Harcourt refinery’s repair works is slated for completion in the fourth quarter of 2024.
During an inspection tour coinciding with the 15th Refineries’ Rehabilitation Steering Committee Meeting, attended by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, NNPCL Board Members, and the MD of the Port-Harcourt Refining Company Limited, Kyari emphasized this timeline.
As of December 15, 2023, Kyari provided a progress update, revealing that approximately 84.4% of Area-5 Plant, a pivotal component of the Port Harcourt refinery, and 77.4% of the overall rehabilitation project had been successfully executed.
He said, “In our quest to ensure that this refinery is re-streamed to continue to deliver value to Nigerians, we made a promise that we will reach a mechanical completion of phase one of the rehabilitation project by the end of December and get the other plants running in 2024. Today, we have kept those commitments,”
“We are done with phase one. We will complete phase two as promised within 2024, maximum – the last quarter of 2024,”
Refinery when completed to last for 50yrs
Also speaking during the meeting was the Managing Director of the Port-Harcourt Refinery Company, Ibrahim Onoja when the rehabilitation of the refinery is complete it’ll serve the country for another 50 years.
He stated, “This plant you see is a renewed plant that will last Nigeria for decades. We can beat our chest and say we’ve come over 50 years, and we’ll go another 50 years.
“This will give value to Nigeria, create jobs, provide feedstock for industries, revenue, foreign exchange, energy security and more. Phase one of this refinery is 60,000 barrels per day, the other one is 150,000 bpd. So we have a complementary 210,000bpd refinery,”
The Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said the PHRC would produce cooking gas, adding that this would lead to a reduction in the importation of the commodity.
Yesterday, the NNPCL reported the completion of the Area 5 section of the Port-Harcourt refinery and the successful mechanical completion and flare start-up.
In March 2021, the federal government approved the contract for the repair of the 210,000-barrel capacity Port-Harcourt refinery for $1.5 billion. The rehabilitation, which was awarded to Tecnimont SPA, an Italian company, was to be done in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months.
