…products out after Christmas; naira to gain from reduced pressures of dollars
The Port Harcourt Refinery commenced operations on Thursday after the mechanical completion of its long-running turnaround maintenance and subsequent flare up, and many Nigerians have reacted positively to the news.
The announcement was made by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Oil in Nigeria.
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd. has fulfilled its pledge of achieving the mechanical completion of rehabilitation work on Area 5 Plant of the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC),” Olufemi Soneye, Chief Corporate Communication Officer, NNPC Limited, said on the group’s X handle.
“The PHRC rehabilitation project, which costs about $1.5bn, is an EPCIC project that covers Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation, and Commissioning phases. For Area 5, the Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Installation have all been completed. The mechanical completion signifies the closure of the Construction and Installation phases,” he said.
Commenting on the new development, Lokpobiri said the coming on stream of the phase 1 of the refinery complex will boost Nigeria’s liquefied natural gas industry which is a major by-product of the complex.
“Today is a very unique day. This is just to announce to Nigerians, that in fulfilment of our pledge to bring on stream the phase 1 of the Port Harcourt Refinery by the end of this year, and the subsequent streaming of the phase 2 in 2024, we hereby announce the mechanical completion of the phase 1 of the Port Harcourt Refinery on the 20th of December 2023,” Lokpobiri said.
Many Nigerians have reacted positively to the coming on stream of the Port Harcourt Refinery.
Sanusi Dantata of the Dantata dynasty said the news means more wins for Nigeria.
“Today we celebrate the Port Harcourt refinery coming back to life. Meanwhile, the Dangote refinery is warming up and its products will soon hit the market. Next will be Warri, Kaduna, and BUA refineries. There’re also modular refineries! Multiple wins for Nigeria and Nigerians!” Dantata said.
Senator Shehu Sanni said he expected the Kaduna Refinery Complex to follow suit.
“The Commencement of operations of the Port Harcourt Refinery is commendable. The NNPCL has kept to its promise of meeting up the December deadline. Kudos to the GCEO, the management and the FG. We hope the Kaduna refinery that has been inactive for over a decade will come back to operation soon,” he said.
It should be recalled that the rehabilitation contract for the revamp of the Port Harcourt Refinery Complex was awarded in March 2021 for $1.5 billion by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. The repair works, which are in phases, were awarded to Marie Technimont SPA, an Italian firm.
The Port Harcourt Refinery Complex has two refineries which are the old refinery with a capacity to process 60,000 barrels per day (bpd), and the new refinery with an installed capacity to process 150,000 bpd, bringing the total capacity of the complex to 210,000 bpd. The new refinery was established in 1988 and was meant to be an export refinery.
The first phase that has been completed is configured to produce crude oil products such as low pour fuel oil (LPFO), LPG, high pour fuel oil, gasoline, diesel, kerosene, among others.
Upon completion, the refinery complex is expected to generate at least 3,000 jobs, boost local economy, contribute to the resuscitation of the crude refining subsector, effect downward movement in retail prices of petroleum products, as well as reduce the pressures on the US dollars.
The NBS reported that a litre of premium motor spirit, otherwise known as petrol, cost N621.08 in South-East, N635.46 in North-Central, N644.16 in North-East, N622.52 in South-South, N616.81 in South-West, and N639.85 in North-West. Zamfara, Gombe and Borno recorded the highest prices while the least prices were recorded in Lagos, Oyo and Delta states.
Nigeria imported N1.49 trillion worth of refined petroleum products and N472.4 billion worth of gas oil in Q1 2023. The country also imported N1.23 trillion worth of refined petroleum products and N230.83 billion worth of gas oil in Q2 2023, as well as N1.92 trillion worth of refined petroleum products, and N736.66 billion worth of gas oil during the third quarter of this year.
It is also expected that the revamped refinery will boost the nation’s transport and logistics sub-sector whose operators will be involved in the bridging of the final products. Earlier in 20223, NNPC stated in its weekly evacuation and dispatch data that on the average, 2,267 trucks were involved in the distribution of PMS in Lagos State; 604 trucks in Delta; 339 trucks in Edo; 239 trucks in Rivers, among others.
