The Port Harcourt Refinery will resume operations by the first quarter of 2023, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has said.
Sylva told newsmen shortly after the facility tour in Eleme, Rivers, on Tuesday, saying the plant would refine 60,000 barrels of crude per stream day (bpsd) when it resumes operation
“This project kicked off in the 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 FG 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, resulting in the soot pandemic in Port Harcourt and its environs.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari had inaugurated a modular refinery in Imo state last year.
He added that similar projects were currently ongoing in other parts of the country, including Rivers state.
“When people begin to equate modular refinery with the criminality that is going on, I think they don’t go together,” the minister said.
“The criminality should be taken on. What is going on in Port Harcourt and some of these areas causing problems is a criminal activity, and we cannot legalise that criminal activity.
“We must stop that activity by law enforcement and that has started. The programme of starting a modular refinery had always been on.
“Any law-abiding Nigerian who wants to invest in this area can access funding and the licenses from the federal government.”
In 2021, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited began rehabilitation of the refinery following the federal executive council (FEC) approval of the sum of $1.5 billion for the purpose.
