Port Harcourt refinery will start operations in two weeks – Kyari

…says refunery recieved 450,000 barrels of crude oil

Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), has assured that the Port-Harcourt refinery will kick off operation in the next two weeks.

Kyari said this during an interaction with the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Investigation of Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) in the nation’s refineries on Thursday.

He assured Nigerians that the delivery date of the Port Harcourt and other refineries remains sacrosanct.

“We will make sure that promises that we made about the rehabilitation of these refineries are kept. We did a mechanical completion of PHRC in December. Now, we have crude oil already stocked in it. It is currently undergoing regulatory compliance test before we restream it. I assure you that this refinery will start in next two weeks.

“For Warri, we have also done mechanical work on it. It is undergoing regulatory compliance processes that we are doing with our regulators. Kaduna will be ready by December this year, but we have not reached that stage. We believe that it will also be ready on schedule,” the GCEO stated.

Kyari explained that currently, Port Harcourt Refinery has received 450,000 barrels of crude for processing following the mechanical completion of the plant in December, last year.

He called for the cooperation of all stakeholders in the rehabilitation process, stressing that “we are all serving this country dutifully and loyally. Nigerians must understand that gradually, we shall get this task done.”

The Senate Ad-hoc Committee is expected to visit the three refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt soon for an on-the-spot assessment of work progress.