Port Harcourt Refinery to resume production in 2 weeks time – Mele Kyari assures

The Group Chief Executive Officer, GCEO of NNPC Ltd, Mr. Mele Kyari, has assured the Senate Committee on Turn Around Maintenance chaired by Senator Ifeanyi Uba that the Port Harcourt Refinery will resume full production in two weeks time.

The date, Kyari said, was sacrosanct, having told Nigerians before, explaining that the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery and others have been going on which the mechanical completion of the PHRC was completed in December, 2023.

He insisted on the earlier date given, revealing that there is crude oil already stocked in the refinery awaiting resumption of production as the refinery is currently undergoing regulatory compliance test.

“We will make sure that promises that we made about the rehabilitation of these refineries are kept. We did a mechanical completion of PHRC in December. Now, we have crude oil already stocked in it. It is currently undergoing regulatory compliance test before we re-stream it.

Mele Kyari said: “I assure you that this refinery will start in the next two weeks.

“For Warri, we have also done mechanical work on it. It is undergoing regulatory compliance processes that we are doing with our regulators. Kaduna will be ready by December this year, but we have not reached that stage. We believe that it will also be ready on schedule,” the GCEO stated.

Kyari explained that currently, Port Harcourt Refinery has received 450,000 barrels of crude for processing following the mechanical completion of the plant in December, last year.

He solicited the cooperation of the legislature and Nigerians and other stakeholders in an effort to get refineries back to life.

The Senate Ad-hoc Committee is expected to visit the three refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt soon for an on-the-spot assessment of work progress.
to Kyari, who appeared before the Ad-hoc Committee with top management of NNPL drew attention of the Committee to the news report, claiming to have emanated from Senator Ifeanyi Uba, saying that the Committee vowed to expose frauds in NNPL.

Senator Uba who presided over the interactive session with NNPL officials apologized for the report, saying he was quoted out of context.

He said the Committee could not have taken a position in the manner it was reported in the media, on the Turn Around Maintenance, TAM of refineries that have not been investigated yet.

The purported claim was reported last week in some national dailies and online new outlets.