Chuks Isiwu
Lagos — The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has announced the commencement of operations at the Port Harcourt Refinery.
According to the minister, the plant commenced operations on December 20, 2023 following the completion of the first phase of work at the plant, but refined products would flow from the facility after the Christmas break.
He disclosed this while he led members of the Refinery Steering Committee on inspection of the plant.
Lokpobiri, who congratulated the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, for delivering the plant in line with the Federal Government’s target of returning the facility to production before the end of 2023.
“The meeting today coincides with the commencement of operations at the Port Harcourt refinery.
“This is to announce to Nigerians that in fulfillment of our pledge to complete phase one of the Port Harcourt refinery by the end of 2023, and the subsequent streaming of phase two in 2024, we happily announce the mechanical completion of flare start-up on December 20, 2023.
“This heralds the commencement of the production of petroleum products after the Christmas break. We want to thank Nigerians for their patience and trust in the NNPC to deliver on our promise and mandate in the rehabilitation of our refineries,” the minister said.
Despite assurances by the NNPC on the delivery of the Port Harcourt refinery before the end of the year, some industry experts argued that the plant would unlikely be ready to supply petroleum products by the end of this December as it may have only achieved mechanical completion and would have to undergone commissioning and testing necessary for commencement of full operations.
“Mechanical completion is different from when you start getting products. You have to do pre-commissioning and commissioning before actual production,” an expert and former Managing Director of both the Kaduna Refinery and Warri Refinery, Engr. Babajide Soyode, said.
The Port Harcourt Refining Company, a subsidiary of NNPC Ltd, has two refineries – an old refinery built in 1965 with capacity to refine 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and the new refinery built in 1989 with capacity to refine 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
What the NNPC has delivered is the old refinery while work on the new Port Harcourt refinery is pending.
The Engineering, Procurement and Construction, EPC, contract for the rehabilitation work on the old Port Harcourt Refinery was awarded by former President Muhammadu Buhari government in March 2021 to Italy’s Tecnimont S.p.A, a subsidiary of Maire Tecnimont Group, at the contract sum of $1.5 billion.
According to the contract documents, the project entails engineering, procurement and construction activities for a full rehabilitation of the two refineries in Port Harcourt, aimed at restoring the complex to a minimum of 90 percent of its nameplate capacity of 210,000 barrels per day, to be delivered in phases from 24 and 32 months and the final stage expected to be completed in 44 months from the award date.
While 35 months elapsed since the contract was awarded in March 2021, the government kept shifting the goal post on the completion date for the first phase, first from the last quarter of 2022 and later to December 2023, even when the contractors, Tecnimont, has been mum about the possible readiness of the plant by the end of 2023.
