The Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited will start refining crude oil and will contribute to petroleum product availability by the end of this month, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has said.
It also assured that on or before the end of this week, the scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol, will cease across the country.
The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Joseph Dawha, disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday after inspecting some petrol stations in the city.
He said, “Presently, the refineries are undergoing rehabilitation and we are undertaking what we call a new strategy to carry out the turn around maintenance on them. Basically, what this means is that we are carrying out phased implementation of rehabilitation of the refineries.
“We are taking the refineries unit by unit and carrying out turnaround maintenance on them. So in other words, the maintenance are being carried out on the run and we started a couple of months ago.
“Most of the refineries have advanced to a certain stage where they will be able to operate very soon. For example, the Port Harcourt refinery, which has reached an advanced stage, will start receiving crude by end of this month and then of course will start contributing to the available products in the country.”
NNPC has four refineries, two in Port Harcourt, and one each in Kaduna and Warri. The refineries have a combined installed capacity of 445,000 barrels per day. A comprehensive network of pipelines and depots strategically located throughout Nigeria link these refineries.
Dawha said the maintenance exercise on the refineries were spontaneously taking place in all the facilities.
He said, “At the end of the target 18 months, most of the refineries would have been rehabilitated to such level where they can actually process crude optimally to make contributions to the availability of products in the country.
“I’ve heard some people say we have neglected the refineries, no, farther from that. We hope that at the end of the exercise, these refineries will be fully back into operation and we will minimise some of the problems we have with importation.”
He explained that why the refineries were not running was a conscious decision, adding that “we decided that if the refineries were not in good state to process crude for maximum gain, then there was no point sending crude to the refineries.
“Therefore what you do is to try and fix it so that by the time you start processing the crude, you will get real value for the crude you are sending to the refineries. We are satisfied with the level of work that has been carried out so far in the Port Harcourt refinery, so that if you start processing crude now you will get real value.”
The Managing Director, Pipelines Product Marketing Company, Mr. Haruna Momoh, stated that the NNPC imports 50 per cent of petroleum products into the country.
He noted that when the ongoing rehabilitation and turn around maintenance of the Port Harcourt refinery is completed in July, 2015, the plant would run at 80 per cent installed capacity and produce five million litres of petrol on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, Dawha called on marketers to start importing PMS, stressing that the distribution challenge of PMS was largely due to the non-involvement of marketers, a development which resulted in the scarcity nationwide.
The NNPC GMD said as of Thursday, the PPMC had a stock level of 1.1 billion litres, representing 27 days sufficiency, and noted that the stock excludes volumes with confirmed delivery dates within the next couple of days.
“In the last five days, we have brought into Abuja 428 trucks of Premium Motor Spirit, averaging 85 trucks daily, to address the petrol requirement in Abuja and its immediate environs,” Dawha added. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Like seriously?
ReplyDeleteThis should be a welcome development, that is, if it is really true. I hold my congratulations till July.
ReplyDeleteCrude processing is not rocket science, it's mere fractional distillation.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what made Jonathan and his cronies unable to produce just 1 million litres of petrol in their life time?
Keep quite idiot,this is one of GEJ achievements and not Buharia...fool
DeleteThey had no interest in seeing the refineries work. It was more lucrative to export the crude oil (450,000 b/d) and put the money in a "JP Morgan" bank account to which only Diezani was signatory!
Delete@ Anonymous 6:42am, you are the BIGGEST FOOL to think GEJ budgeted a dime for TAM of the refineries, check the last six years budget for refinery maintenance if any? wake up
DeleteSome people are very stupid , How do you think they just started refinery just last month ??Hmmmm.. please we should thank GEJ okay , the man really try , this is most of the works that has be going on since years please .
DeleteThe emergence of PMB just made things fall in place, even when the man has not even made any statement, you see things working automatically. Na wah oooooooo........
ReplyDeleteYou are displaying your ignorance, for a refinery to be ready to start production in a matter of weeks, your thick skull could not know that the rehabilitation must have started long time ago even before PMB assumes power?. Your emotional hatred for Jonathan has blinded your reasoning. Continue to expose your foolishness to the public. Thank God you did not put your name.
DeleteYou are very correct
DeleteIt goes to show that things were deliberately run down by the Jonathan administration.
Some people are very stupid , How do you think they just started refinery just last month ??Hmmmm.. please we should thank GEJ okay , the man really try , this is most of the works that has be going on since years please .
DeleteOne is wont to ask why the refinery had not worked all the Diezani years. As has been revealed by insiders in this forum, Diezani had no interest in seeing those refineries work. She would rather see them paralysed so she could, through her crony companies, export the crude oil meant for the refineries. Now the refineries managers realise the beat has changed, and that Buhari would get to the bottom of why the refineries had been comatose. So, the same managers that could not get them to work have suddenly woken up!
ReplyDeleteFool,the Refinery have been undergoing maintenance since under GEJ,stop mentioning Buhari's name bcos he has done Nothing yet....This is one of GEJ Achievements.....Let Buharia starts working let's see what he can achieve before 2019
Deletewhich GEJ?
DeleteHow much has GEJ ever budgeted for TAM of any refinery in Nigeria. BIG FOOL answer the question and put your name so that we know who you are.
The fear of Buhari is the begining of development in Nigeria...The pdp years didnt do any turn around maintainance. Why cos of money...jonathan spent 2.1 trillion on elections and still lost...so amasing wealth at the detriment of the nation is a useless agenda....im even hearing some fools congratulate david mark...and ekweremadu...
ReplyDeleteDonald i think you breath from your anus....So common sense could not tell you that the maintenance of this refinery was done by GEJ... when was Buharia swear in to put the refinery in place......? I blame GEJ media team for not telling Nigerians the grate achievements of GEJ which includes rehabilitation/maintenance of Portharcourt Refinery,Mambilla Dam and others..
DeletePlease read the article again and you will find out that the turn around maintenance started under GEJ and was projected to be completed in July. For those who thought Alison-Madueke has been doing nothing other than embezzling funds should have a re-think.
Delete@6:51 u are a fool @10:12 av u ever sat down to think that in jonadaft 5 years he could not complete rahabilitation on just one refinary wat if he was to build new one wat will happen?
Delete@Donald. It was N2.3T not N2.1T.
DeleteTo all the GEJ clowns here, it woud take you 6 years to carry out TAM, abi? Una for dey prepared to wait for 20 years. Japan will take 4 years to finish building a brand new 25,000 MW power station. Odes of the highest order. TAM is not rocket science and doesn't take more than 2 months max. for a fully operational refinery depending on the size. It is very clear that the refineries were fully operational but starved of crude by Diezani and her cabal. Chikena come carry subsidy abracadabra dey bamboozle una. Continue dey behave like Ostrich with your heads buried in the sand or the 3 wise monkeys.
APC Propoganda machine is something else, expect them to also claim the light rail of ABJ-KD when finally flagged off even as its already been test run by the VP of the last administration. Also the Mambilla Dam which is already awarded with cost covered in budget is more than 50% completed is another they may also claim... Well,i blame GEJ Media team for all this glory Buharia will take were he did not......
ReplyDeleteHaba! You guys are not being objective. Could the repairs have just started after may 28? Please give credit to whom credit is due. Definitely, this must have begun in GEJ's administration, now PMB is taking credit? That does not make sense. Jonathan may have made some mistakes but the repairs of the refineries should be credited to him. Thank you GEJ
ReplyDeleteSome people are very stupid , How do you think they just started refinery just last month ??Hmmmm.. please we should thank GEJ okay , the man really try , this is most of the works that has be going on since years please .
ReplyDeleteI dont understand why u guys are fighting urselfs ober nothing. Does it really matter who did it? What we need is for this thing to work and fuel available to all at reasonable prices. After all its nt their personal money they are spending to carry out the project, so stop making it sound as if we are being done a favour, they are elected to serve the country and they are only doing their job.
ReplyDelete