Port Harcourt Refinery Receives 450,000 Barrels Of Crude, Operations To Start In April

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited Mele Kyari disclosed that the Port Harcourt refinery has received 450,000 barrels of crude and is all set to resume operations by next month.

Kyari made this announcement while addressing the media on Thursday after appearing before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee probing the nation's refinery Turn Around Maintenance projects.

"We are serving this country with honor and dignity. And we will make sure that the promises we make on the rehabilitation of these refineries will take place. We did a mechanical completion of the refinery that was what we said in December," he said, Punch reported.

He noted that the refinery was already stocked with crude oil and the company was currently doing the regulatory compliance test, which was mandatory for every refinery before starting, assuring that the Port Harcourt refinery will start in the next two weeks.

Kyari explained that the mechanical work was completed, explaining that this meant rehabilitation work was done and now, the team just has to test everything before the launch.

"Of course, we have also completed the mechanical work on the Warri refinery. It is also undergoing regulatory compliance; processes that we are doing with our regulator, and this will soon be completed and it will be ready," he said.

He added, "Kaduna refinery will be ready by December. We have not reached that stage in Kaduna, but we promise Kaduna will be delivered by December."

The NNPC GMD told the journalists that all crude lines are active, stressing that they have already received 450,000 barrels into the Port Harcourt refinery. However, he did mention that there might be security issues.

Oil theft in Nigeria is a huge problem that has caused losses to oil companies for decades. While Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and relies heavily on the revenue generated by the oil industry, oil theft has created a massive impact on the economy.

Last year, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) noted that the oil firm successfully got rid of 460 illegal connections on its Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP).

TNP, a crude oil pipeline owned and operated by Shell Petroleum, has been targeted by thieves for several years due to which the country lost billions of dollars.