The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says
the old Port Harcourt refinery has not shut down operations.
Reports had made rounds that the refinery was nonfunctional
months after a rehabilitation exercise.
In a statement on Saturday, Femi Soneye, NNPC’s
spokesperson, described the reports as “totally false”.
“The attention of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company
Limited (NNPC Ltd.) has been drawn to reports in a section of the media
alleging that the Old Port Harcourt Refinery which was re-streamed two months
ago has been shut down,” he said.
“We wish to clarify that such reports are totally false as
the refinery is fully operational as verified a few days ago by former Group
Managing Directors of NNPC.”
Soneye said preparation for the day’s loading of petroleum
products is currently ongoing.
“Members of the public are advised to discountenance such
reports as they are the figments of the imagination of those who want to create
artificial scarcity and rip-off Nigerians,” he said.
On November 26, the old Port Harcourt refinery commenced
crude oil processing.
The state-owned plant also commenced the loading of
petroleum products for trucks.
Operating at a 70 percent installed capacity, the national
oil company said the refinery had started producing 900,000 litres of kerosene
per day and 1.5 million litres per day of diesel.
NNPC said 2.1 million litres daily volume of low-pour fuel
oil (LPFO) would also be produced at the refinery, adding that additional
volumes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) would be refined at the plant.
The national oil firm also said the refinery commenced
production of daily outputs of straight-run petrol (naphtha), which is blended
into 1.4 million litres of petrol.
When some Nigerians questioned the blending operations at
the old Port Harcourt refinery, Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer
(GCEO) of NNPC, said it is not a crime to blend petroleum products at the
facility.
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