The Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream has visited the Port Harcourt Refinery on oversight function hailing the impact of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd in the revival of the refinery.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Kawu Sumaila, who led the committee, expressed satisfaction with the state of the refinery.
The Port Harcourt Refinery and Petrochemical Company will be sending out approximately 200 trucks of petroleum products each day, signalling a notable comeback in operation.
It was previously stated that the refinery had been shut down since 2019 but has now officially restarted operations following extensive renovations and upgrades.
In 2021, the renovation project started following the approval of a $1.5 billion contract by the federal government for the restoration of the building.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Group Chief Executive Officer, Mallam Mele Kyari, saw the dispatch of around 42 trucks transporting about one million liters of petroleum products on Tuesday, following his visit to the facility on Monday evening.
The distribution lineup comprises refined products such as petrol, diesel, and kerosene, among other options.
The refinery, located in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria, first began operating in 1965. It is the country’s oldest and biggest among the three government-owned refineries.
The site includes a refinery processing 60,000 barrels per day that was built in 1965, along with a 150,000 bpd unit that was installed in 1989. The Port Harcourt refinery, along with other state-owned refineries, has been operating well below its total capacity of 210,000 bpd for many years due to inefficiencies and maintenance issues