The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, and his colleagues on the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) have expressed satisfaction with the progress of work at the Port Harcourt Refinery, Rivers State, which is process 60,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) into the market beginnning from the third quarter of next year when it commences partial operation.
Sylva, who was his team which started their activities for last week with a tour of the refinery, was particularly impressed with the high sense of time management exhibited by the project team.
He said that the Federal Government was interested in the prompt delivery of the project to achieve energy security for Nigeria.
The Port Harcourt Refinery comprises the old and new refineries with a combined refining capacity of 210,000 bpsd.
It is expected to commence full operation on completion of the rehabilitation project scheduled for the last quarter of 2024.
The Chairman of the NNPC Board, Senator Margery Chuba-Okadigbo, who spoke on behalf of the Board members, pointed out that the rehabilitation was aimed at boosting in-country refining capacity and cost reduction.
She said that the rehabilitation also signalled the company’s intention to exit from petroleum products importation and associated challenges of foreign exchange issues, adding that she was impressed by the quality of work done so far.
On his part, the Group Managing Director, Malam Mele Kyari explained that the project was uniquely designed with efficiency and sustainable maintenance culture in mind to enable the refinery generate funds.
Kyari, who is also the company’s Chief Executive Officer, assured that the whole process was well thought-out and will enable the company introduce a new business model for the operation of the refinery.
Earlier in his technical report to the visiting team, the Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), Mr Ahmed Dikko stated that the company was determined to deliver on the mandate by all means.
He acknowledged the support of the NNPC leadership, its Board, the National Assembly and other stakeholders towards achieving the current milestones.
Dikko emphasised that the progress made so far could not have been possible without their cooperation and timely approvals.
The Project Manager for Tecnimont SpA, Mr Davide Broggini, who spoke on behalf of the contractor handling the rehabilitation, promised that they would deliver the project in record time.
The visit included the tour of Areas 1 to 3 of the refinery that housed some major plants including, crude distillation and vacuum units.
Other plants visited were the naphtha hydro-treating unit, catalytic reform and kerosene (kero) hydro-treating units, fluid catalytic cracking and gas unit, and gas treatment and mercaptan oxidation (merox) units.
