The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says
the new Port Harcourt refinery is over 90 percent completed.
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 150,000 bpsd — bringing the refinery’s combined
crude processing capacity to 210,000 bpsd.
Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer of NNPC, spoke on
Monday when Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC)
labour leaders visited the facility in Rivers state.
Represented by Isiyaku Abudulai, NNPC’s executive
vice-president, downstream, Kyari said the new Port Harcourt refinery is under
rehabilitation and would be updated soon.
“When the rehabilitation is completed, it will be up and
running and to the state of art compared to any refinery around the world. So,
There will be compliance to health and safety compliance (HSC),” he said.
“All the assurances of compliance will be made. And that is
why a total rehabilitation is being made. From the contractor’s view, Tecnimont
SPA , and from the reports they send us, they are up to over 90 percent
completed and we will deal with that as soon as possible.
“We are following up too to ensure that we get value and
that we have a combined 60,000 bpsd and 150,000 bpsd to get 210,000 bpsd, so
that that will support our refining processes, our products, and with the
multiple effects that we have on our refining products, finished products, that
we desire in this country.”
‘NEW PORT HARCOURT REFINERY WILL PROPEL EXPORTS’
Kyari said once the feat is achieved, the refinery can
propel sufficiency, exports and imports, and local consumption of petroleum
products, especially petrol.
Speaking further, he said the NNPC has ensured that there is
an established and professional technical operations and maintenance (O&M)
team that would continue to operate and maintain the facilities.
Kyari said around the world, if proper rehabilitation —
including turnaround maintenance — is not carried out, there will be issues.
“And that also involves looking at the processes and the
assets, replacing those aging items that need to be changed and ensuring that
the refinery is up and doing,” he said.
“I think that’s the fundamental, and as I said, we are
looking at the best O&M teams around the world to support that process.”
The GCEO said the company would scale up monitoring to
ensure that “we comply with the best practices around the refinery across the
world”.
On November 26, the old Port Harcourt refinery commenced
crude oil processing after several years of being moribund.
The state-owned plant also commenced the loading of
petroleum products for trucks.
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