The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) CEO, Mele Kyari, has announced that the Port Harcourt refinery is set to begin production in early August, while the Kaduna refinery will follow in December.
Kyari made this declaration during a National Assembly appearance, reaffirming an earlier timeline despite facing public scrutiny.
With the impending startup of the Dangote refinery, Kyari expressed optimism about Nigeria achieving two million barrels per day production and becoming a net petroleum exporter by year’s end.
The Port Harcourt refinery, particularly the Port Harcourt II complex, boasts significant clean fuel capacity. It has undergone recent licensing processes following the completion of mechanical work in December 2023 and the subsequent supply of crude oil.
Both the NNPCL and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources have confirmed that the refinery is in its final stages of rehabilitation.
The mechanical work at the Port Harcourt refinery has been completed. Also, crude oil has been sent to the plant. What is being awaited now has to do with licensing and the like. Now, these licenses are given based on some set of time-frames.
“Some officials involved in issuing these licenses are still observing the plant. Some of them came in last month and they are still there checking everything. They will also have to test-run the plant and all this will be at their pace. Most of them are foreigners and you can’t rush them.
“They have their integrity to protect, for if anything contrary happens at the refinery, the officials might be held accountable and their insurance firms would have to pay for any damage.
So it is not entirely on our part when it comes to the takeoff of the refinery,” a petroleum ministry official, who spoke in confidence due to lack of authorisation to talk about the matter,to Channels TV
