Rehabilitation work still ongoing at Port Harcourt refinery

Rehabilitation work is still ongoing at the Port Harcourt Refinery, our correspondent learnt yesterday at Alesa Eleme, the location of the federal government’s multi billion naira refining company.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, said last month that about 84.4 per cent completion of the work at the fifth refinery had been achieved, while all mechanical aspects of rehabilitation work had been completed.

A test-run of the refinery was carried out on December 21, 2023 to ascertain the capacity of the flares in the refining process.

Sources at the refinery told our correspondent that sand blasting of all the pipes that would connect the refinery to the crude oil tank farms would be completed within the week.

A source at the refinery who works in one of the contracting firms said many of the tank farms had been stocked with crude oil, awaiting evacuation through the pipes to the burning furnace.

“The old refinery, that is the fifth, was completed in December 2023 but there are other areas that needed to be completed because as at that time, they had not tested the flare line. When the minister visited the refinery recently, they tested the flare lines, that is the line that burns the gas.

“The flares were tested to ascertain its capacity. Sand blasting of the pipes that will connect the refinery to where they will get supply for crude oil is ongoing and will be completed this week. They are sand-blasting the area,” he said.

Another source who did not want his name in print said all the mechanical aspects of the refinery had been completed and were awaiting evacuation of crude from the reservoirs.

“I can tell you that all the contractors at the site are working round the clock to ensure that the rehabilitation works are completed within the record time. But actual refining of crude oil has not started because the evacuation lines are not ready.

Sand-blasting of pipes that will supply crude oil to the processing machines will be completed this week. The tank farms have been stocked with crude oil, so the moment the distribution lines are ready, work will start. All the electrical installations have been completed. I believe that in no distant time, refining of crude oil will commence,” the source stated.

The Port Harcourt Refinery, which is a subsidiary of the NNPC Limited, is composed of two refineries, with the capacity of refining 210,000 barrels of crude oil per day.