In line with the Federal Government promise to ensure production of refined products, the Port Harcourt Refining Company in Rivers State has recommenced operation.
This comes following many years of underperformance and turnaround maintenance of the facility.
Four of Nigeria’s refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna have a combined capacity to process 445,000 barrels per day (bpd). But they were shut down in 2019.
However, in August, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil) Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, said that the refinery will recommence operations in December.
He said this during an inspection tour of the rehabilitation work progress at the PHRC Ltd. Plant
“Our objective in coming here today is to ensure that in the next few years, Nigeria stops fuel importation. From what we have seen here today, Port Harcourt Refinery will come on board by the end of the year,” he said during the visit.
The recommencement of operations at the Port Harcourt refinery comes over two years after the Federal Government approved funding of $1.5 billion (1.2 billion euros) to repair one of its biggest oil refineries.
The government chose an Italian firm Maire Tecnimont to carry out the repair work at the Port Harcourt facility which has a capacity of some 210,000 bpd.
“We are happy to announce that the rehabilitation of productivity refinery will commence in three phases,” the then-Minister of Petroleum (State) Timipre Sylva told reporters.
“The first phase is to be completed in 18 months, which will take the refinery to a production of 90 percent of its nameplate capacity,” said Sylva, adding that the second phase would be completed in 24 months and the third in 44 months.
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