Stakeholders doubt December handover date of Port Harcourt Refinery
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We have also finished all the civil engineering work, such as casting of bases,” he said.
Road leading to refinery still in deplorable state
Apart from the doubts being expressed by stakeholders, our correspondent also observed that the road leading to the refinery from the East West Road is in total dilapidation, further indicating the uncertainty of the refinery being ready for commissioning in December.
It would be recalled that trucks laden with petroleum products fall on the road on a daily basis while several lives have been lost on the road.
The stretch of road leading to the refinery from Alesa Junction down to the entrance gate enroute Area 5 has collapsed.
Facts about old and new refinery
Daily Trust Saturday reports that the Area 5 (old refinery) has the capacity to refine 60,000 barrels per day.
The old refinery (area 5) comprises a CDU, a CRU, and a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) facility.
The refinery complex uses four turbo-generators of 14MW an hour of electricity generation capacity each and four boilers of 120 tonnes (t) an hour of steam generation capacity each.
The refinery products include petrol, diesel, LPG, aviation and domestic kerosene, low pour fuel oil (LPFO), and heavy pour fuel oil (HPFO).
On the other hand, the new plant (refinery) has the capacity to produce 150,000 barrels per day bringing the total capacity of 210, 000 per day when combined with the old refinery.
The new Port Harcourt refinery comprises a crude distillation unit (CDU), a vacuum distillation unit (VDU), a naphtha hydrotreating unit (NHTU), a catalytic reforming unit (CRU), a continuous catalyst
regeneration (CCR) unit, a kerosene hydrotreating unit, a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit, and a dimersol unit to convert propylene into a gasoline blendstock.
It also houses a butamer isomerisation unit, an alkylation unit, apart from hydrogen purification, fuel gas vaporiser, sour water and caustic treatment units.
Lokpobiri vows to hold NNPC accountable over project completion
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, said he was holding the NNPC accountable for the completion of the rehabilitation work at the refinery.
Lokpobiri, who spoke to journalists shortly after inspecting a private modular refinery at Ibigwe in Imo State, said he would be going back to the refinery in the next couple of days to see things for himself.
He said the NNPC team told him that the refinery would be ready by December, adding, “When I went there, I saw that they were working; and they are still working. I will be there in the next few days.
“There are three phases in the Port Harcourt refinery. The phase one; and from the presentation made to me, they said the first phase would be ready by December. So let us wait till December. When the fuel starts coming out, everybody will see it.
“I want to make it very clear that I am not the one rehabilitating the refinery, the NNPC, which is our national oil company, is the body responsible for that, even before I came into office. I am pushing them because of the importance of refineries in the country, to ensure that they meet the target.
“Let’s have the first phase working, then the second and third phases will work at the end of next year. That is what they are doing, and I am holding them accountable. I am holding them responsible because they said so. I am not the one responsible, I can only tell you that they are working.”
The Port Harcourt refinery, which is a subsidiary of the NNPCL, is composed of two refineries with the capacity of refining 210,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
32 months after...
The EPC contract for the rehabilitation work at the refinery complex was awarded by the President Muhammad Buhari-led government in March 2021 to Italy’s Tecnimont S.p.A, a subsidiary of Maire Tecnimont Group, at the contract sum of $1.5billion.
According to the contract documents, the project entails engineering, procurement and construction activities for a full rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery complex, aimed at restoring the complex to a minimum of 90 per cent of its nameplate capacity, to be delivered in phases from 24 and 32 months and the final stage expected to be completed in 44 months from the award date.
However, a former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, had assured Nigerians that the refinery would commence operation in 18 months from the award date.
While 32 months have elapsed since the contract was awarded in March 2021, the government has kept shifting the completion date since the last quarter of 2022. It has again postponed the refinery’s operation to December 2023, even when there has been no assurance from Tecnimont that the project would be ready for use by that time.
Sylva had on many occasions explained that funds for the rehabilitation would come from three sources; namely, NNPC’s internally generated revenue $200million; federal appropriation -$800m and the African ExportImport Bank (Afreximbank) $500m.
While the repayment of the loan from Afrexim Bank, according to the government, would be from operations of the refinery, the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), does not believe that the Port Harcourt Refinery cannot be delivered by December 2023.
The executive director of YEAC Nigeria, Mr Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, wondered how petrol tankers would access the refinery to load products when the Eleme axis of the East-West road is impassable.
“Most statements from government officials that cannot be independently verified cannot be trusted when it comes to issues of refineries. At the point of flag-off by former President Buhari in May, it was promised that the Dangote Refinery was going to commence production in July 2023, and up till today, there is no hope in sight.
“Even if the refinery would commence production in December, where is the road that tankers can use to load products and distribute to consumers? The Election junction to the refinery section of the East West road is in its worst state.
“I believe the refinery would commence operation someday, but not in December 2023, even if it cannot refine up to its capacity because of the outdated equipment and facility.
“While it is possible to project into the future for a possible completion date, Advocacy Centre believes it is better to allow the contractors work at their pace to deliver a refurbished refinery that would stand the test of time to produce, reduce importation and possibly crash the price of fuel, with a view to reducing the challenges faced by the masses since subsidy removal.”
Fyneface lamented that the country’s four refineries may not contribute significantly to solving Nigeria’s energy crisis even after the rehabilitation, regretting that more money has been spent on the maintenance of the refineries over the years than the cost of building a new modern refinery.
“I do not believe that production would commence at the Port Harcourt Refinery in December 2023. If it miraculously happens, it would be an experimental production that cannot be depended upon to contribute to addressing the issues of energy crisis in Nigeria.
“I expect production at the refinery to possibly kick off effectively anytime in 2024 but do not also think that it can refine to its full installed capacity due old age and obsolete technology it parades.
“Nigerians should rather be worried about the so much crude oil dollars and taxpayers money being expended on the country’s refineries, yet they have failed to come on stream.
Fyneface, who is the national facilitator of Project with Artisanal Crude Oil Refiners for Modular Refineries, said for the energy sufficiency and export, the country’s four refineries must be functioning at optimal capacity, while new refineries must be established in all oil-producing states, as well as modular refineries.
“Government should also support modular refineries with environmental-friendly policies to operate at their maximum capacities, grant licences to others who intend to establish private refineries and also ensure that feed (crude oil) is guaranteed for them.
“There are three phases in the Port Harcourt refinery. The phase one; and from the presentation made to me, they said the first phase would be ready by December. So let us wait till December. When the fuel starts coming out, everybody will see it