* Directs quick repair of others
* Amid uncertainty of products’ prices
The Presidency announced on Tuesday that 200 trucks are set to load petroleum products daily from the Port Harcourt Refinery.
Speaking on his X handle, the Special Adviser on Public Communications and Orientation to the President, Sunday Dare, said that the refinery’s Old Wing has resumed operations with a production capacity of 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
“The Port Harcourt Refinery has two Wings. The Old Refinery comes on stream today with an installed production capacity of 60, 000 barrels per day of crude oil.
“About 200 trucks are expected to load products daily from the refinery Renewing the Hopes of Nigeria,” he confirmed.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) had earlier announced the commencement of crude oil processing at the government-owned facility.
The commencement of production at the Port Harcourt refinery comes after a series of failed deadlines.
In 2021, the Federal Government approved $1.5 billion (1.2 billion euros) to repair the plant, one of the country’s biggest refineries which was shut down two years before that.
Despite being one of the largest producers of crude oil, Nigeria has over the years relied on the importation of petroleum products owing to a lack of local refining capacity. President Bola Tinubu in 2023 announced an end to the subsidy regime, leading to a hike in the cost of petrol.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu has congratulated the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on the successful revitalisation of the Port Harcourt refinery, marked by the official commencement of petroleum product loading on Tuesday.
Tinubu’s Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy), Bayo Onanuga,, said the president acknowledged the pivotal role of former President Muhammadu Buhari in initiating the comprehensive rehabilitation of all the country’s refineries.
He also expressed gratitude to the African Export-Import Bank for its confidence in financing this critical project.
Furthermore, President Tinubu commends the leadership of NNPC Limited’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, whose unwavering dedication and commitment he said, were instrumental in overcoming challenges to achieve the milestone.
With the successful revival of the Port Harcourt refinery, President Tinubu urged NNPC Limited, to expedite the scheduled reactivation of both the second Port Harcourt refinery, Warri and Kaduna refineries.
“These efforts will significantly enhance domestic production capacity alongside the contributions of privately-owned refineries and make our country a major energy hub, with the gas sector also enjoying unprecedented attention by the administration,” Onanuga added in a statement
Curiously, a former governorship candidate in Rivers State, Pastor Tonye Cole, has said that Nigerian refineries cannot sell a litre of petrol for N700 or below at this point.
Cole said this on Channels Television on Tuesday, hours after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, announced that Port Harcourt refinery has kicked off refining of crude oil.
Despite this development, the Rivers-born businessman said there are other components, which have to do with the importation of machineries.
“The price being sold in Nigeria is lower than what an imported cargo would land at,” Tonye Cole, a two-time governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) in Rivers State said.
“As a result of that, most people are not bothered to import.
“So, Nigerians are already benefiting from that. Secondly, the volume of consumption in Nigeria has dropped, as a result of that, the pressure you used to have on foreign exchange has gone down because we’re no longer importing that much.
“What you’re selling is in naira, naira is what you use in buying crude, so we’re already feeling the impact of that,” he added.
On why the product is not being sold below N700, Cole said: I don’t think we’ll get it [N700].
“There are certain things you still need to deal with. There are many components you’re still bringing in.
“All the things that were refurbished at the refinery were refurbished with products and machineries brought in from outside the country.
“So we still have a huge foreign exchange component we have to deal with.”