The rehabilitation of 60,000 barrels per day Port Harcourt refinery has been completed and will begin production by the first quarter of 2023.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said this at the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration Scorecard (2015 – 2023) in Abuja.
“The rehabilitation of the 60,000 barrels per day is completed and it is going to be started in the first quarter,” he said.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Group Chief Executive Officer, Mallam Mele Kyari, explained that it was not practicable to start production in the last quarter of 2022 as promised.
Kyari noted that rehabilitation of refineries takes 42 months from the date of signing its contract.
The rehabilitation of the oldest refinery in the country, and its eventual start-up in the first quarter of 2023 is historical and highly commendable.
According to the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO), this is further evidence of President Muhammadu Buhari’s managerial capacity, a solid will to deliver on a commitment to infrastructural development and a more creative way of resolving challenges amidst unfavourable circumstances.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the group affirmed that “when a government is committed, focussed, transparent and honest it will have the will to deliver on any promise made in the public space.
“We have now seen that it is very possible to rehabilitate our old refineries that have become congenially comatose over so many years and were almost sold off as scrap by a previous government.
“Interestingly, the model for managing the rehabilitated refinery will be by a third-party concession and not directly by the government.
“This will greatly reduce the possible threat of mismanagement, and the third party will be accountable to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and by extension, Nigerians.
“In addition, we now have two modular refineries (Waltersmith and Duport refineries) that have been completed and are ready to go on stream”..
BMO recalled that the Federal Government under former President Olusegun Obasanjo had granted licenses to 18 private refineries. Still, there was no crystallization of these licenses until President Buhari came on board.
“Also, we now have the mega Dangote Refinery that has already concluded its sourcing of crude oil with NNPCL for its refining activities. Now we are looking forward to a 650,000 (bpd) mega refinery being streamed by the private sector.
“These are some of the national aspirations that are necessary to elevate the Nigeria situation which past politicians have made a sing-song of without practically consolidating them.
“Luckily, we have a Buhari administration that is translating the vision of operating a private refinery to a reality, across boards. Aside from rehabilitation of the 60,000 barrels per day Port-Harcourt Refinery, refurbishment of the Kaduna and Warri refineries are also progressing very well”.
The pro-Buhari group urged Nigerians to show gratitude to President Buhari who, under challenging circumstances and constricted environment, has been able to take on these challenges and is delivering on them in the most systematic ways.
