THE CABLE
Despite a stream of promises to complete the rehabilitation of the state-owned refineries, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is battling to conclude the turnaround maintenance at the Port Harcourt refinery, insiders have told TheCable.
The Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) operates two refineries; the old plant with a capacity of 60,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) and a new facility with an installed capacity of 150,000 bpsd — bringing the refinery’s combined crude processing capacity to 210,000 bpsd.
Since the federal executive council (FEC) approved $1.5 billion for its rehabilitation in 2021, the refinery has remained moribund despite NNPC’s repeated assurances that it would become functional.
According to insiders, efforts to commence operations at the refinery have suffered significant setbacks.
A source said the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor has been unable to fully revamp the refinery “due to obsolescence, corrosion, lack of baseline data for structural integrity verifications” and the absence of “as-built data to help engineers draw on the history of the facility”.
THE PH REFINERY AND PROMISES OF HOPE
On May 6, 2021, the NNPC commenced repairs at the plant.
After many failed delivery targets, on December 21, 2023, the NNPC said it had completed the mechanical phase of the turnaround maintenance.
Speaking at the event held to mark the milestone, Heineken Lokpobiri, minister of state for petroleum resources (oil), said production would commence after the Christmas festivities — but the plans fell flat.
In an interview with Reuters on January 4, 2024, Femi Soneye, NNPC’s spokesperson, said testing would be completed at the facility that month.
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