Port Harcourt Refinery resumes operation after completion of $1.5bn rehabilitation

Federal Government has announced that the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) has now resumed operations after several months of inactivity due to rehabilitation by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, Amaka Okafor, who confirmed the resumption of operation at the refinery said the $1.5 billion rehabilitation project of the refinery has now been completed as the plant has resumed operations.

“Yes, the refinery is set, we will visit the refinery site today (Wednesday) to kickstart its operation,” she said.

It would be recalled that the $1.5 billion rehabilitation project of the refinery was launched by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in 2019, to restore the refinery to its nameplate capacity of 210,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Accompanied by the Members of the Board of NNPC Ltd. and the Group CEO, Mele Kyari, the Ministers of State in the Petroleum Ministry, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State, Petroleum Resources (Oil) and Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister of State, Petroleum Resources (Gas), will afterwards headline the Mechanical Completion Ceremony of the old Port Harcourt Refinery.

Lokpobiri and the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, in August, assured Nigerians that the refinery would be operational by December 2023.

The NNPCL boss, Kyari had told Lawmakers that by the end of December 2023, the Port Harcourt refinery would commence operations, adding that in early 2024, the Warri refinery would also commence operation and that by the end of 2024, the Kaduna refinery was expected to also commence operation.

 “I can confirm to you that by the end of December this year, we will start the Port Harcourt refinery; early in the first quarter of 2024, we will start the Warri refinery, and by the end of 2024, Kaduna refinery will come into operation,” Kyari said.

Meanwhile, the NNPCL, Thursday, said it has fulfiled its pledge to achieve the mechanical completion of rehabilitation work on Area 5 Plant of the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC).

The PHRC rehabilitation project, which costs about $1.5bn, is an EPCIC project that covers Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation, and Commissioning phases (EPCIC).

For Area 5, the Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Installation have all been completed.

Rehabilitation work has been ongoing at the Refinery for over two years and the NNPC Ltd. had pledged to complete Phase One of the project (mechanical completion and flare start-up) of Old Port Harcourt Refinery (Area 5) by 31st December 2023.

Speaking during an inspection tour of the rehabilitation project, which also coincided with the 15th Refineries’ Rehabilitation Steering Committee Meeting, the Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Ltd., Mr. Mele Kyari, said as of December 15, 2023, 84.4% of Area 5 Plant, a key component of the Refinery, and 77.4% of the entire rehabilitation project had been completed.

“In our quest to ensure that this refinery is re-streamed to continue to deliver value to Nigerians, we made a promise that we will reach a mechanical completion of phase one of the rehabilitation project by the end of December and get the other plants running in 2024. Today, we have kept those commitments,” Kyari stated.

The GCEO commended the NNPC Ltd. staff and the EPCIC contractors for doing a great job in ensuring that the refinery achieved that significant milestone.

Remarking, Chairman of NNPC Ltd. Board, Chief Pius Akinyelure described the milestone as “historic”, stressing that the board was proud of the staff and management of the refinery.

“We are just starting. We want to be at the highest level of production so that we will keep the prices of petroeum prices in the country stabe in order to give comfort to our people and generate more revenue for our country,” Akinyelure noted.

Also speaking, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, said the milestone was another landmark of the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as he thanked Nigerians for their patience and the trust they have in NNPC Ltd’s ability to deliver on this huge project.

In his address, the Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas), Rt. Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, said re-streaming the Refinery will herald a new dawn for the nation’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) industry, as LPG, also known as cooking gas, is a major by-product of the Refinery.

Also speaking, the Managing Director of Tecnimont Nig. Ltd., Fabio De Cioppo, one of the EPC Contractors of the Rehabilitation Project, said his company remains committed to fulfiling the terms of the contract.

The mechanical completion signifies the closure of the Construction and Installation phases.

Also, the NNPC said, the milestone was achieved under an “excellent Health,

Safety and Environment (HSE) record, which stood at over 9.5 million man hours with zero Loss Time Injury (LTI).”