The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri on Thursday confirmed that the Port Harcourt refinery would commence production of petroleum products after the Christmas break.
Lokpobiri made the confirmation in Port Harcourt during the 15th Refineries Rehabilitation Steering Committee meeting in Rivers State.
He also confirmed that the first phase of the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery has been completed.
According to him, the mechanical completion and flare-up of the refinery has been completed and it is a signal that the government is committed to fulfilling its promise to Nigerians on the rehabilitation of the nation’s refineries.
Lokpobiri stated, “This is just to announce to Nigerians that in fulfilment of our pledge to bring on stream phase 1 of the PH refinery by the end of 2023 and the subsequent streaming of phase 2 in 2024, we heartily announce the mechanical completion and flare up of the refinery on the 20th of December 2023.
“This heralds the commencement of production of petroleum products after the Christmas break.
“We want to thank Nigerians for their patience and trust in the NNPCL to deliver on our promise and mandate for the rehabilitation of our refineries.”
The meeting had in attendance the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari; NNPCL’s Executive Vice President, Upstream, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan; and the NNPCL Board Chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure.
Also speaking at the briefing, the NNPCL board chairman said the revival of the Port Harcourt refinery is a fulfilment of promise.
“We made a promise that the refinery will be on before the end of the year. We are here to witness this historic event. We are proud of the staff and the entire management of the refinery.
“We are just starting. We want to attain the highest level of production to keep the price of petroleum stable in our country,” he said.
On his part, the NNPCL Group CEO assured Nigerians of the commitment of the NNPCL to the full completion of the refinery.
The Old Port Harcourt Refinery (OPHR) was commissioned in 1965 with a capacity of 35,000 BPSD, which rose to the current capacity of 60,000 BPSD after de-bottlenecking in 1972.
The New Port Harcourt Refinery (NPHR) was commissioned in March 1989 and has a capacity of 150,000BPSD.