APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The Nigerian Government has announced the commencement of operations at the Port Harcourt Refining and Petrochemical Company in Rivers State in Southeastern Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who disclosed this development while leading members of the Refinery Steering Committee to inspect the facility, congratulated the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and Nigerians in general for the feat.
He said that the Refinery commenced operations on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, as the first phase of work at the plant had been completed.
The minister assured that refined petroleum products would start flowing from the refinery after the Christmas break.
“The meeting today coincides with the commencement of operations at the Port Harcourt refinery,
“This is to announce to Nigerians that in fulfillment of our pledge to complete phase one of the Port Harcourt refinery by the end of 2023, and the subsequent streaming of phase two in 2024, we happily announce the mechanical completion of flare start-up on December 20, 2023.
“This heralds the commencement of the production of petroleum products after the Christmas break. We want to thank Nigerians for their patience and trust in the NNPC to deliver on our promise and mandate in the rehabilitation of our refineries,” the elated Minister said.
The Nigerian Government had earlier this year announced that the Port Harcourt refinery would begin operations before the end of 2023.
Apart from the Port Harcourt Refinery, the Kaduna, and Warri Refineries had been shut down for decades, despite millions of dollars spent on their turnaround maintenance.
Nigeria had depended on the importation of petroleum products for domestic consumption for decades and relied on the payment of subsidy for petrol in order to make the product affordable to Nigerians.
However, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of subsidy on petrol on May 29, 2023 during his inauguration and the price of petrol jumped from N162 per litre to over N650 per litre. This has resulted in high transportation cost and high food prices across Nigeria.
GIK/APA
Nigeria’s Port Harcourt refinery begins operations
