Port Harcourt Refinery to Begin Operation in April - Mele Kyari

The Port Harcourt refinery, which has been undergoing rehabilitation for some years, is set to begin operation soon. Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), announced this. He further stated that the refinery will come into full operation in the next two weeks, probably the first week of April 2024.

According to the NNPCL boss, mechanical works that have been ongoing in the following sites have been completed. He said that the same applies to the refineries in Warri and Kaduna. However, according to Kyari, the Kaduna refinery will commence operation in December.

He gave the full message about this in a press briefing when he appeared before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee, which monitors the various Turn Around Maintenance projects of the country's refineries.

He said, 

"We are serving this country with honour and dignity. We will ensure that the promises we make for these refineries' rehabilitation occur.

"We completed the refinery's mechanical work, as we said in December. We now have crude oil already stocked in the refinery. We are conducting a regulatory compliance test that must happen in every refinery before you start it, and I assure you that this Port Harcourt refinery will begin in the next two weeks.

"Completing the mechanical work means you are done with the rehabilitation work; now you have to test to see how it works. Of course, we have also completed the mechanical work on the Warri refinery. It is also undergoing regulatory compliance processes, which we are doing with our regulator, which will soon be completed and ready.

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

My Kyari also told the Senate that over 450,000 barrels of oil had been stocked into the Port Harcourt refinery.

He added, "All crude lines are active and have delivered over 450,000 barrels into Port Harcourt refinery.

"We are confident of its integrity. There may be security issues, but the government is responding to the situation."

Also, the Senate has disputed the alleged fraud report in the Turn Around Maintenance of the nation's refineries currently being undertaken by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited.

This was after Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, the Chairman of the Senate ad-hoc panel, informed his colleagues that he had some parts of the documents on the TAM and that no issue of fraudulent practice was discovered during the whole process.

Ubah stated that Nigeria would want to know what progress is being made on the rehabilitation of the refineries.

He said, "I have seen some documents indicating that something is being done, and there is nothing to suggest foul play in the exercise."

He emphasized that all members of the committee would visit all the refineries to see the progress of work there so that a comprehensive report would be presented to the Senate in plenary as soon as possible.