As promised by the federal government, the Port Harcourt Refining Company in Rivers State has reopened and will be producing refined products by December 2023.
The development follows a number of years of poor performance and turnaround maintenance for the facilities. Four refineries in Nigeria, located in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna, have a combined capacity of 445,000 barrels per day (bpd). But in 2019, they were shut down.
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The refinery is scheduled to reopen in December, according to a statement made in August by Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil).
During an inspection visit of the ongoing restoration work at the PHRC Ltd. plant, Lokpobiri made this statement.
“Our goal in being here today is to make sure that Nigeria ceases importing fuel within the next several years. During the tour, he stated, “Based on our observations today, Port Harcourt Refinery will join us by year’s end.”
More than two years have passed since the Federal Government authorised $1.5 billion (1.2 billion euros) in funds to rehabilitate one of its largest oil refineries, when activities at the Port Harcourt plant resumed.
The government selected Maire Tecnimont, an Italian company, to handle the facility’s repairs at the Port Harcourt location, which can produce about 210,000 barrels per day.
Reporters were informed by the then-State Minister of Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, “We are happy to announce that the rehabilitation of productivity refinery will commence in three phases.”
“The refinery will reach 90 percent of its nameplate capacity in 18 months when the first phase is finished,” stated Sylva. The second phase will be finished in 24 months, and the third in 44 months.
Nigeria, the largest oil producer in Africa, has been dependent on petroleum product imports due to a lack of refining capacity within the country. Shortages of fuel occur frequently.
However, the government has been attempting to increase capacity at the nation’s underperforming state-owned refineries as part of efforts to restructure the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
The resumption of refinery operations at the plant and the start of a comparable project at the Dangote Refinery are expected to enhance fuel supplies in Africa’s top oil producer and enable savings on refined fuel and other petroleum products.
The decision is anticipated to have an effect on the product’s cost in addition to eliminating the fuel subsidy.
