P/Harcourt refinery resumes operations next year with 60,000bpd – Minister

Port Harcourt refinery will resume operations in the first quarter of 2023 and refine 60,000 barrels of crude per day, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva.

Sylva said this while fielding questions from journalists shortly after the facility tour in Eleme, Rivers State, on Tuesday.

In 2021, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited commenced the rehabilitation of the refinery — after the Federal Executive Council approved $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation exercise.

The minister said the plant would refine 60,000 barrels of crude per stream day (bpsd) when it resumes operations.

“This project kicked off second quarter last year, and where they are now is quite impressive. It is on schedule,” Sylva said.

“The commitment is to deliver 60,000 barrels per day from this refinery by the first quarter of next year, and, of course, we are quite happy.

The minister assured that the Federal Government would end all forms of illegal oil bunkering going on in the Niger Delta.

Sylva said the modular refinery programme of the Federal Government was also on course, urging people to take advantage of the programme.

He, however, said modular refinery should be separated from the illegal oil refining taking place in the Niger Delta, causing the soot pandemic in Port Harcourt and its environs.

According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari last year inaugurated a modular refinery in Imo State.