The Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), on Wednesday reportedly resumed operations several months after it was shut down for rehabilitation by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).
Business Day quoted Amaka Okafor, Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, who confirmed the resumption of operation at the refinery as saying, “Yes, the refinery is set, we will visit the refinery site today to kickstart its operation.”
The $1.5 billion rehabilitation project of the refinery was launched by former President Muhammadu Buhari administration in 2019, to restore the refinery to its nameplate capacity of 210,000 barrels per day (bpd).
Lokpobiri and the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, in August, assured Nigerians that the refinery would be operational by December 2023.
Kyari also during the budget defence session on December 9, told Nigerian lawmakers that by the end of December 2023, the Port Harcourt refinery would commence operations.
He further said that in early 2024, the Warri refinery would begin operation and that by the end of 2024, the Kaduna refinery was expected to also commence operation.
Kyari had been quoted as saying, “I can confirm to you that by the end of December this year, we will start the Port Harcourt refinery; early in the first quarter of 2024, we will start the Warri refinery, and by the end of 2024, Kaduna refinery will come into operation.”
