FG announces ‘mechanical’ completion, flare start-off of Port Harcourt refinery

The Federal Government on Thursday, announced the mechanical completion and flare start-off of Nigeria’s biggest crude refinery rehabilitation in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The country’s refineries; Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna were in 2020, shutdown as they were reportedly running below capacity.

But in 2021, the Federal Government approved $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery with an oil refining capacity of 210,000 barrels per day.

Speaking during a media tour of the facility, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, said upon delivery of the rehabilitation as promised, the refinery would commence production of refined oil after Christmas break.

“Just to announce to Nigerians the fulfillment of our pledge to bring on stream phase one of the Port Harcourt refinery by the end of 2023 and the subsequent streaming of phase two in 2024. We happily announced the mechanical completion and the flare start-off on the 20th of December 2023.

“This heralds the commencement of production of petroleum products after the Christmas break. We want to thank Nigerians for their patience and trust in the NNPC to deliver on its promise and mandate of rehabilitating our refineries,” he said.

On his part, the Group Chief Executive Officer, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd. Mr. Mele Kyari, noted that rehabilitation work had been ongoing at the refinery for over two years.

He stated that 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 December 31, 2023.

According to him, as of December 15, 2023, 84.4 percent of Area 5 Plant, a key component of the Refinery, and 77.4 percent of the entire rehabilitation project have 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.

He further explained that the PHRC rehabilitation project, which costs about $1.5 billion, is an EPCIC project that covers engineering, procurement, construction, Installation and commissioning phases.

He noted that the Area 5, the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation have all been completed adding that the mechanical completion signifies the closure of the Construction and installation phases.

In his remarks, the 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 petroleum prices stable in order to give comfort to our people and generate more revenue for our country,” Akinyelure noted.

On the tour were the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas) Ekperikpe Ekpo, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) Board Chairman, Pius Akinyelure, NNPC Ltd. Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari and other dignitaries.

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