NNPC clarifies community leader claim, says Port Harcourt refinery now 90% operational 

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has clarified claims by a community leader in Alesa, Rivers State, alleging that the Port Harcourt refinery is not producing petrol.

NNPC also stated that the refinery is currently producing at 90 per cent throughput which translates to Straight-Run gasoline (Naphtha) blended into 1.4 million litres of PMS, aside from other products like diesel and kerosene.

Olufemi Soneye, Chief Corporate Communication Officer of the NNPC, issued a statement on Friday condemning the remarks made by a community leader, calling them an uninformed critique of refinery operations.

Soneye pointed out that although the leader admitted fuel was being dispatched from the refinery’s gantry, they dismissed it as “old stock” from the previous refinery, a claim Soneye argued further discredited the accusations.

Timothy Mgbere, allegedly a leader of the Alesa community, appeared on national television on Thursday, accusing the NNPC of deceiving Nigerians by stating that the Port Harcourt refinery is already refining crude oil.

In response, Soneye asserted that the Port Harcourt refinery is currently operating at 90 per cent capacity, dismissing the allegations as baseless and inconsistent with the facts, stressing that the refinery has been actively producing and distributing fuel.

Soneye also highlighted discrepancies in the community leader’s statements.

“He (Mgbere) claimed that the old Port Harcourt Refinery was only operating skeletally and was not processing PMS. His proof was that the PMS truck-out was done at the gantry of the new Port Harcourt Refinery as against the gantry of the old Port Harcourt Refinery.

“This betrays his scant knowledge of the operations of the refinery. The old and new Port Harcourt Refineries have since been integrated with one single terminal for product load-out.

“They share common utilities like power and storage tanks. This means that storage tanks and loading gantry which he claimed belong to the new Port-Harcourt Refinery can also receive products from the Old Port Harcourt Refinery,” Soneye said.

According to him, the nameplate capacity of the refinery is 60,000 barrels of oil per day. “It is currently producing at 90 per cent throughput which translates to Straight-Run gasoline (Naphtha) blended into 1.4 million litres of PMS, aside from other products like diesel and kerosene.

“We call on the general public to disregard the claims of the self-acclaimed ‘community person’ which are obviously borne out of sheer mischief and blatant display of ignorance,” Soneye said.