Barely two months after the September completion deadline flop, the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission has explained why it could not deliver the much-awaited Port Harcourt Refinery Company.
In an interview with our correspondent on Monday, the NNPC Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, said the company encountered risks and challenges while carrying out the rehabilitation, being a brownfield project.
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He noted that the NNPC began the commissioning of critical equipment and processing units after the mechanical completion in Nigeria.
“However, as is common with brownfield projects of this scale and complexity, we encountered unforeseen risks and challenges,” he stated.
Nonetheless, he told The PUNCH that the issues were resolved and commissioning activities have resumed.
Soneye stressed that work is being carried out to ensure the project’s completion.
The refinery, situated in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region, has been in operation since 1965, but later became moribund for several years.
In March 2021, the Nigerian government acquired a $1.5bn loan for the renovation and modernisation of the refinery, but the contractor handling the project has yet to announce its completion.
The PUNCH observed that promises made to Nigerians by the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the NNPC about the refinery have continued to hit brick walls.
After the failure of the sixth deadline in early August, the then Chief Financial Officer of the NNPC, Umar Ajiya, said the refinery would commence operations in September 2024.
In July, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, stated categorically that the refinery would come into operation in early August. He had said in 2019 that the NNPC would deliver all the country’s four refineries before the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration last year.
When he appeared before the Senate in July, Kyari boasted, “I can confirm to you, Mr Chairman, that by the end of the year, this country will be a net exporter of petroleum products.
“Specific to NNPC refineries, we have spoken to a number of your committees, and it is impossible to have the Kaduna refinery come into operation before December, it will get to December, both Warri and Kaduna; but that of Port Harcourt will commence production early August this year.”
