NNPC Finally Releases Date For Refinery To Begin Operation

REFINERY at Port Harcourt is undergoing regulatory and compliance testing; full operation will start after that according to NNPCL

Regulatory and compliance tests are still ongoing, according to a report from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), about the Port Harcourt Petroleum Refinery.

The only thing preventing the refinery from starting full operations, according to Olufemi Soneye, Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPCL, is regulatory and compliance testing. This was said on Tuesday, April 16.

“The Port Harcourt refinery has received crude oil, and it has been stocked in the facility. All crude lines are currently active. Regulatory and compliance tests are underway as we speak, and once they are completed, the refinery will commence operations. This adherence to best practices is recognized worldwide” he said.

The Bonny Oil and Gas Terminal, a joint venture asset run by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, SPDC, sent 475,000 barrels of crude oil to the Port Harcourt Refinery, which Shell completed supplying in February.

The Federal Executive Council authorized $1.5 billion in March 2021 for the Port Harcourt Refinery's renovation.

Accordingly, data showed that in the last ten years, the Nigerian government has fixed the three refineries in the nation, spending N11.35 trillion ($25 billion).

Prior to this, the Federal Government had announced that the Port-Harcourt Refinery will start out by generating 2.2 million liters of diesel and two million liters of gasoline each day.

Furthermore mentioned was the fact that the refinery's new facility, which is currently undergoing construction, would begin producing by the end of 2024, while the old facility would continue to produce 54,000 barrels monthly.