FEC approves $1.5bn for Port Harcourt refinery repairs

The Federal Executive Council has approved $1.5bn approved for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery, one of the four refineries in the country.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timpre Sylva, disclosed this to journalists on Wednesday at the end of the weekly FEC meeting at the State House, Abuja.

He said a memo for the rehabilitation of the refinery was approved at the meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The minister said the rehabilitation of the refinery would be carried out in three phases over a period of 44 months.

He said the contract was awarded to an Italian company, Technimount SPA, who are experts in refinery maintenance, adding that the funding has three components from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), budgetary allocations provisions and Afreximbank.

The minister said, “The Ministry of Petroleum Resources presented a memo on the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery for the sum of $1.5bn, and that memo was $1.5bn and it was approved by council today.

“So, we are happy to announce that the rehabilitation of the refinery will commence in three phases. The first phase is to be completed in 18 months, which will take the refinery to a production of 90 percent of its nameplate capacity.

“The second phase is to be completed in 24 months and all the final stage will be completed in 44 months and consultations are approved. And I believe that this is good news for Nigeria.”

Sylva said the other three refineries in Onne, Warri and Kaduna would also be rehabilitated before the end of the present administration in May 2023.