PH refinery: 200 trucks load daily, 150,000bpd Eleme plant dormant
After seven postponements, the Port Harcourt Refinery Company has finally commenced fuel production, promising a daily supply of about 200 trucks, as about one million litres of refined products were released by the plant on Tuesday.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited unveiled the refinery on Tuesday, saying the old facility, which has a capacity of 60,000 barrels per day, had been revamped and upgraded with modern equipment.
It said the newly rehabilitated complex of the old Port Harcourt refinery is currently operating at a refining capacity of 70 per cent of its installed capacity.
NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, said the bigger refinery in the Eleme complex that houses the plants, with a 150,000-capacity, had yet to be completed.
Kyari said the bigger plant, including the Warri and Kaduna refineries, would come on stream later. However, he declined to give a timeline because President Bola Tinubu warned him from doing so after several postponements.
“We will deliver all the other projects. We are not going to give a timeline as he (Tinubu) has directed,” the GCEO said while appreciating the President for his support.
During the unveiling of the refinery, NNPC officials conducted stakeholders around the facility where they took samples of petrol, diesel, and kerosene.
The stakeholders who included marketers and the regulators also witnessed the loading of trucks at the gantry.
It was stated that about 200 trucks of petrol would be released into the Nigerian market daily.
The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, expressed satisfaction with the development.
According to him, with the Dangote refinery and Port Harcourt refinery producing, there will be fuel availability all over the country.
Ahmed also said the rehabilitation of Warri and Kaduna refineries would make Nigeria a net exporter of petroleum products instead of a net importer it has been for years.
The NMDPRA chief executive stated that the refinery would give people choices and promote healthy competition in the downstream sector.
He said the prices of petroleum products would come down due to enough fuel supply in the local market.
“Products will be available nationwide. What is important is that there will be competition and choices. All we’ve been talking about when I spoke in July was about choices, competition, availability, and affordability.
“We will see the prices of petroleum products coming down because there is ample supply. We hope the refinery will continue to sustain the current level of production. We are hoping that the second part of the refinery will come up very soon,” he stated.
Petrol production controversy
There were claims later in the day that the unveiled plant was not producing petrol, as reports had it that the refinery was only blending the product.
Sources in the oil sector argued that the plant lacks a catalytic platform unit to produce petrol, stressing that it could only refine crude for other products at the moment.
“There was no and cannot be any PMS produced from the NNPC Port Harcourt (refinery) until the refinery’s catalytic platform unit is installed and made operational! This has not happened!” a top official at the petroleum ministry, who spoke in confidence due to the nature of the matter, stated.
This was, however, countered by NNPC in another statement, where it also mentioned that plans were ongoing to ramp up production capacity to 90 per cent while dismissing claims that the refinery was not producing products.
The NNPCL spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, said, “For clarity, the old Port Harcourt Refinery is currently operating at 70 per cent of its installed capacity, with plans to ramp up to 90 per cent.”
The statement further explained that diesel and Pour Fuel Oil would be the highest output from the refinery, with a daily capacity of 1.5 million litres and 2.1 million litres, respectively.
This is followed by a daily output of Straight-Run Gasoline (Naphtha) blended into 1.4 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), 900,000 litres of kerosene, and low-pour fuel oil of 2.1 million litres.
The NNPCL further confirmed that its petroleum products were blended with crack C5 to meet the required specifications.
It also noted that the blending plant was utilised with global standards, as no single unit can produce gasoline that fully complies with the required standards.
“It is worth noting that the refinery incorporates crack C5, a blending component from our sister company, Indorama Petrochemicals (formerly Eleme Petrochemicals), to produce gasoline that meets required specifications.
“Blending is a standard practice in refineries globally, as no single unit can produce gasoline that fully complies with any country’s standards without such processes. Additionally, we have made substantial progress on the new Port Harcourt Refinery, which will begin operations soon without prior announcements.”
