Friday, March 19, 2021

Nigeria approves funding to overhaul Port Harcourt oil refinery

The Nigerian Government has reportedly approved $1.5bn in funding to repair the Port Harcourt refinery, which was closed two years ago.

Petroleum Minister Timipre Sylva was cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying that Italian firm Maire Tecnimont has already been selected by the government to undertake the repair work at the Port Harcourt refinery, which has a refining capacity of about 210,000bpd.

Due to the lack of domestic refining capacity, the country relies on imported petroleum products despite being Africa’s top oil producer, reported AFP.

Sylva told reporters: “We are happy to announce that the rehabilitation of productivity refinery will commence in three phases.”

The first phase of the refinery overhaul project is scheduled to complete in 18 months. It aims to bring the refinery’s production to 90% of its nameplate capacity.

The second phase and third phases are expected to be over in 24 months and 44 months, respectively.

Quoting Sylva, Premium Times said that the funding of the refinery repair work will come from sources including the Nigerian National Petroleum (NNPC), Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), budgetary provisions, and Afreximbank.

Sylva noted that the country would implement rehabilitation work on the Kaduna and Warri refineries on or before May 2023.

The Port Harcourt Refinery Complex is owned by Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC), a unit of NNPC.

The Port Harcourt Refining Company operates two refineries. The old refinery with a nameplate capacity of 60,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) and new refinery with an installed capacity of 150,000 bpsd.

The two refineries bring the Port Harcourt Refinery’s combined crude processing capacity to 210,000bpsd.

Hydrocarbons Technology

Related story: Nigeria Looks To Ramp Up Its Oil Refining Capacity

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