The Nigeria government has announced the Port Harcourt refinery restart date as December 2023 as it seeks to stop fuel importation.
This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri (Oil), in Port Harcourt on Friday.
The Nigeria government had last year placed the Port Harcourt refinery restart date at the end of 2022. Other successive oil ministers and executives of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd have announced series of unsuccessful plans and dates to resume crude oil processing in the refineries.
Lokpobiri disclosed this while inspecting the rehabilitation work on-going at the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) Limited plant.
His statement comes after an affirmation by President President Bola Tinubu earlier this month, as the Nigeria government deepens its effort to get the dormant fuel refineries working.
According to the statement by a spokesperson for the National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Garba Deen Muhammad, the Lokpobiri announced that the plant would begin processing by December this year.
The estimated time was issued with consideration of the level of progress recorded in the PHRC rehabilitation project. He added that the objective of the rehabilitation tour was to ensure that in the next few years, Nigeria halts fuel importation.
"From what we have seen here today, Port Harcourt Refinery will come on board by the end of the year, Warri will come on stream by the end of the first quarter of next year, and Kaduna will also come on board towards the end of next year," Muhammad quoted Lokpobiri.
"If you add that to the Dangote Refinery, we will be able to stop fuel importation, and Nigerians will enjoy the full benefits of deregulation," he said.
Lokpobiri added that he was satisfied with the rate of the rehabilitation work at the Port Harcourt refinery.
He also cited that once all the refineries become operational, the citizens of Nigeria will benefit from an improved supply of petroleum products and favourable foreign exchange, which will boost the nation's economy.
The Minister of State for Petroleum (gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, stated during the tour, that petrol is very vital to Nigeria's economy, adding that all hands must be on deck to ensure that the refineries are up and running.
On his part, the group chief executive officer (GCEO) of NNPC, Mele Kyari, affirmed that restoring the optimal levels of the refineries is a national aspiration, explaining that the company remains focused on delivering the mandate.
"We are aware of our nation's challenges in terms of fuel supply. But we are not here to give excuses. We are focused on delivering this rehabilitation project, our two other refineries, and all other investments towards revamping the nation's refining capacity," Kyari said.
The GCEO further assured that by 2024, Nigeria will be a net exporter of petroleum products.
It should be recalled that the former minister of state for petroleum resources, Timipre Sylva, had in last year September, stated that the old Port Harcourt refinery would become functional by the end of the 2022.
In March this year, Sylva had said the plant would restart refining operations before the end of the second quarter of 2023.
Timipre Sylva, Nigeria's Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, has stated that the April 2023 completion date for the Port Harcourt refinery's restoration is achievable, and that the plant will be able to process 60,000 barrels of oil by early next year.
Note that the NNPC Ltd, formerly called Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had in July 2015 announced that the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries have successfully resumed production after a rehabilitation programme which lasted nine months.
The NNPC had said re-streaming of production at the two facilities came after in-house engineers and technicians completed technical.
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