The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has announced that rehabilitation work on the new Port Harcourt refinery has reached over 90 percent completion.
Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC, disclosed this during a visit by leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to the refinery facility in Rivers State. Represented by Isiyaku Abudulai, NNPC’s Executive Vice-President, Downstream, Kyari expressed optimism about the refinery’s rehabilitation progress.
“When the rehabilitation is completed, it will be up and running and comparable to any state-of-the-art refinery worldwide,” he said. “There will be compliance with health and safety standards, which is why a total rehabilitation is being carried out.”
The Port Harcourt Refining Company operates two refineries, including the old plant with a capacity of 60,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) and a new facility with 150,000 bpsd, bringing the combined capacity to 210,000 bpsd.
Kyari revealed that the contractor, Tecnimont SPA, had reported significant progress, with the project now over 90 percent complete.
He emphasized that the refinery, upon completion, would support the country’s refining processes and reduce dependency on imports.
Kyari further explained that the revamped refinery would enhance local petroleum product availability, drive exports, and meet domestic consumption needs, particularly petrol.
He also noted that NNPC had put in place a professional technical operations and maintenance (O&M) team to ensure the facility remains operational and efficient post-rehabilitation.
“Globally, if proper rehabilitation, including turnaround maintenance, is not carried out, issues arise,” Kyari said.
“This involves replacing aging assets and ensuring the refinery operates optimally. We are leveraging the best O&M teams worldwide to support this process.”
The NNPC boss assured that monitoring would be scaled up to align the facility with global best practices for refinery operations.
Meanwhile, the old Port Harcourt refinery resumed crude oil processing on November 26, following years of inactivity.
The facility has also commenced loading petroleum products for trucks, marking a significant milestone in Nigeria’s efforts to revive its local refining capacity.
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