The Nigerian government has proudly announced the ‘mechanical completion’ and ‘flare start-off’ of the country’s largest crude refinery in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, made the declaration during a media tour of the Port Harcourt refinery, News About Nigeria reports.
The Port Harcourt Refineries are made up of two units: the old plant can refine 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) while the new facility can refine 150,000 barrels per day (bpd), for a total of 210,000 barrels per day.
The refinery, which shut down in March 2019 for the first phase of repair works, is an important part of the government’s efforts to improve the nation’s refining capabilities.
Minister Lokpobiri expressed gratitude to Nigerians for their patience and trust in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to deliver on its promise of rehabilitating the refineries.
He stated that production of petroleum products at the refinery would commence after the Christmas break.
Pius Akinyelure, the Board Chairman of NNPC Ltd., also expressed satisfaction with the achievement, adding that the refinery’s commencement of operations would stabilise fuel costs.
The rehabilitation of refineries is a key part of the government’s agenda to reduce dependence on imported petroleum products and boost local production.
Nigeria owns four refineries, two located in Port Harcourt and one each in Warri and Kaduna.
However, the refineries have been dormant for many years despite Turn-Around-Maintenance (TAM) efforts.
Due to this, the refinery’s output has been reduced, resulting in the costly importation of petroleum products for domestic consumption and lost revenue for the country.
