The presidency has said work is currently ongoing at the 150,000 barrels per day plant of the Port Harcourt Refining Company in Rivers State.
PHRC has two plants comprising the 60,000bpd facility, and the 150,000bpd plant.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, stated this after joining a fact-finding team at the 60,000 barrels per day refinery.
He also said the 60,000bpd refinery is operating at 70 per cent of installed capacity and plans to increase production shortly and that the refinery receives regular crude oil contrary to claims of lacking the product.
Onanuga, in a post on X titled “Putting to Rest Rumours about Port Harcourt Refinery Complex: Our Fact-Finding Mission”, said the lies and doubts about the refinery had been dismissed by the team’s fact-finding mission.
He explained that the team was satisfied with the state of the refinery.
“Nigerians must ignore naysayers and false information about the refinery’s operations. While it is not currently running at 100 per cent, it is functioning at 70 per cent installed capacity, with plans to increase production shortly.
Furthermore, the refinery receives regular crude supplies, contrary to claims that it lacks crude to refine,” the presidential aide said.
He commended NNPCL for reviving “this dead asset,” on the “verge of becoming a museum piece.”
During the visit, Onanuga said the team verified that the refinery processes petroleum products, including kerosene, low-pour fuel oil, liquefied petroleum gas, diesel, and petrol.
“The latter is blended with other products to make the petrol we use in our cars. We even tested samples of the products,” he said.
“The refinery’s recent overhaul has transformed it into a modern facility. We saw upgraded and replaced parts, including part of the 300km new pipelines.
“Some parts the company had not changed in 27 years have been replaced with new ones, bringing the refinery up to 21st-century standard.”
Onanuga further pointed out that the revamping work has “indeed brought the refinery back to life,” adding that what was formerly a 20th-century refinery has been transformed into a state-of-the-art facility.
He added that the team also visited the co-located second Port Harcourt refinery, commissioned in 1989, and workers were seen dismantling old, rusty parts and installing new ones.
