VOICE AIR MEDIA News Update
THE Port Harcourt Refining Company, PHRC, Limited, with a combined capacity of 210,000 barrels per day, commenced operation on Wednesday.
Videos that emerged on Thursday morning showed flares from the refinery, indicating that operations have indeed commenced.
The development is apparently a confirmation of the vow in August by the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil) Senator Heineken Lokpobiri that the refinery will commence operation in December 2023.
According to the Minister, the objective is to ensure the country stops importing fuel.
Corroborating Lokpobiri’s stance, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, declared that importing petroleum products into the country will cease by December 2024.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari, said, “I can confirm to you that by the end of December this year, we will start the Port Harcourt refinery; early in the first quarter of 2024, we will start the Warri refinery, and by the end of 2024, Kaduna refinery will come into operation.
March 2021, the Federal Executive Council approved $1.5 billion to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt Refinery.
Accordingly, data showed that the Nigerian government has spent N11.35 trillion ($25 billion) in the past ten years on fixing the country’s three refineries.
Stakeholders in the downstream sector said that the development will likely result to a drop in the price of fuel, which is currently over N617/litre.
