Phase 1 Of Port Harcourt Refinery Rehabilitation Completed; Plant To Process 60,000 Barrels Daily

The first phase of rehabilitation at Port Harcourt Refining Company's (PHRC) Area-5 plant has been completed. The facility will start refining 60,000 barrels of crude oil daily after the Christmas holidays, the federal government announced Thursday.

The second phase of the rehabilitation project will start in the fourth quarter of 2024. This will allow the refinery, managed by state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), to process 150,000 barrels daily.

Speaking at the 15th Refineries' Rehabilitation Steering Committee meeting, Heineken Lokpobiri, Heineken Lokpobiri, minister of state for oil, said phase one was completed on Wednesday.

"The meeting today coincides with the commencement of operations at the Port Harcourt refinery. This is to announce to Nigerians that in fulfillment of our pledge to complete phase one of the Port Harcourt refinery by the end of 2023, and the subsequent streaming of phase two in 2024, we happily announce the mechanical completion of flare start-up on December 20, 2023," he said, Punch reported.

The minister thanked all Nigerians for their patience and for trusting the NNPC to deliver the promise made about the rehabilitation of refineries. He said the government will work on other refineries in Warri and Kaduna cities after the completion of this project.

Ekperikpe Ekpo, minister of state for gas, shared that the PHRC also will start producing cooking gas, which would help reduce importation.

"With the coming up onstream of this phase one, others will follow as well, because the NNPC has fulfilled the first assignment and I believe others will be completed on schedule," he added. However, he didn't mention the quantity of the cooking gas the refinery is expected to produce.

Mele Kyari, CEO of NNPC, said the refinery has been "re-streamed to continue to deliver value to Nigerians," adding that the company has kept its promise to complete phase one of the rehabilitation project by the end of December.

"We are done with phase one. We will complete phase two as promised within 2024, maximum – the last quarter of 2024," he added.

Pius Akinyelure, chairman of the NNPCL Board, called the completion of the first phase a milestone.

"We want to be at the highest level of production so that we will keep the prices of petroleum in the country stable in order to give comfort to our people and generate more revenue for our country," Akinyelure said.