Beyond the Port Harcourt refinery

RECENTLY, former Group Managing Directors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) visited the Port Harcourt refinery in Rivers State, dismissing recent criticisms of the facility. The officials under the Forum of Former GMDs, including Chamberlain Oyibo, Funsho Kupolokun, Andrew Yakubu and Dr. Jackson Gaius-Obaseki, commended the efforts of the  NNPCL leadership headed by the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, after inspecting the refinery.  Speaking on behalf of the group, Gaius-Obaseki argued that critics had failed to understand the magnitude of work involved in revamping a facility of that complexity. He said: “This is a complete rehabilitation, transforming a plant built in 1965 into a modern one in 2024. We appreciate the effort.” On petroleum pricing, Gaius-Obaseki described the achievement as a testament to courage and dedication, urging Kyari to remain focused on delivering value to Nigerians.

Similarly, following the allegations on social media that the refinery operates as a blending facility rather than a crude oil processing plant, leaders of the  organised labour, including the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) also visited the refinery amid the controversy surrounding its full operability, dismissing insinuations that it was not operating after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited reopened it. President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, said: “When there was an increase in the pump price of petroleum products, part of the agreement we had with the Federal Government was that this refinery must work. And now that it is working, we must come here to confirm that it is working.  We also confirm that the new one, which is under rehabilitation, is almost completed.”

Ajaero’s views were echoed by his TUC counterpart, who doubles as the president of PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo, who said: “Going through the plants, we were shown the various processing units – burners, heat exchangers, compressors, turbine – and how these units tie into the production of petroleum products. To a very large extent, we are satisfied with what we have seen – the level of work and details that went into the rehabilitation.”  Naturally, the labour leaders warned against the privatisation of the refinery, calling for the adoption of the NLNG model whereby the Federal Government and international oil companies (IOC) would jointly manage the facility.

The Port Harcourt Refinery comprises two facilities: the old refinery, with a 60,000-barrel-per-day capacity, and the new refinery, capable of refining 150,000 barrels per day. The old facility, Nigeria’s first refinery, is said to have a unique configuration whereby a  barrel of crude oil yields a maximum of 23–24 percent gasoline. It resumed operations on November 26 after being dormant for more than three decades. This followed the Federal Government’s approval of $1.5 billion for the comprehensive rehabilitation of the refinery in 2021. In December 2023, the corporation completed the mechanical phase of the refinery’s turnaround maintenance and last month, it restarted active operations. According to reports, the refinery currently produces straight-run gasoline (Naphtha) blended into 1.4 million litres of PMS daily; 900,000 litres of kerosene; 1.5 million litres of Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel); 2.1 million litres of Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO), and additional volumes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas.

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To be sure, the resuscitation of the Port Harcourt refinery is a positive development. For decades, Nigeria’s refineries had remained moribund even as the government kept other countries’ refineries busy, importing petrol at great cost to the Nigerian economy and with terrible implications for national pride. Particularly in the last few years, the NNPCL leadership took a lot of flak for superitending over moribund refineries and retaining workers who collected billions of naira in salaries for doing virtually nothing. With the coming on stream, as it were, of the Port Harcourt refinery, there is evidence of determination by the Kyari-led team to change the narrative in Nigeria’s oil sector. It certainly rankled that a country blessed with human and material resources like Nigeria could not refine its own oil. That was why, in previous editorials, we flayed the NNPCL’s inability to make Nigeria’s four refineries functional. Now that an arm of the Port Harcourt refinery has resumed productions and assurances have been given that the other arm will begin operations too, we think that the NNPCL leadership deserves plaudits for its efforts. We welcome the development heartily.

However, the story has only just begun. Regardless of whatever is the gain of the current effort, there can be no doubting the promise that complete resuscitation of all the refineries in the country holds. The NNPCL leadership must ensure that this becomes a reality. If the four refineries and private refineries are all functional, then Nigerians will have respite. Interestingly, Olufemi Soneye, NNPCL’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, has quoted Kyari as inviting all those in doubt about the ongoing work on the refineries to “join the NNPCL on a tour of the refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna to verify their status.” This is a challenge that Nigerians must take up. On its part, the NNPCL leadership must walk its talk and ensure that the refineries work once again. That, definitely, will be great for Nigeria.