The $1.5 billion rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refining Company has begun, and a portion of the facility will begin delivering refined products by September next year, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
On April 6 2021, NNPC officially signed a contract with Tecnimont SPA for the $1.5 billion PHRC rehabilitation program, and the parties to the agreement announced the project’s start date.
Kennie Obateru, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, assured Nigerians that some part of the facility would deliver products in September 2022.
He did, however, emphasize that the entire rehabilitation program would be completed in 44 months and that the contractor had already mobilized to the site.
“The work is progressing,” he said. We estimated that it would take 18 to 44 months to complete, beginning in April of this year. Within 18 months, a portion of the refinery will be operational. The entire rehabilitation project will take 44 months to complete. Mr. Kennie Obateru also said that in 18 months some aspects of the plant will be producing (products).”
Oil marketers urged the oil company to try to speed up the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery.
Billy Gillis-Harry, President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, stated, “If the refinery in Port Harcourt can be rehabilitated and brought back to operational capacity, that will be a welcome idea.” He urged the corporation, however, to collaborate with downstream stakeholders and other industry players to obtain a diverse range of inputs in order to realize the target of local crude oil refining. He stated that it was past time for the country to begin refining crude oil, as this would not only create jobs but would also benefit the country’s overall economy.
The aftermath of these event on the pricing of AGO/PMS/DPK is the firm possibility that by September of the year 2022, there will be a stable price regime of petroleum products, due to a fully operational Port-Harcourt refinery. There is also every possible chance that by this said period, the Dangote refinery would already be functioning at optimal capacity. This gives us the power of 2 functional refineries operating locally within the shores of Nigeria. The ripple effect stems from having to drill out crude and refine it locally, giving us the advantage of determining our prices of AGO/PMS/DPK.
