NNPC rehabilitation project puts Port Harcourt refinery back on track

Business a.m

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd. has successfully completed the first phase of the rehabilitation work on the Old Port Harcourt Refinery (Area 5).

It is important to note that this is not the first time efforts have been made to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt Refinery. In the past, previous attempts to repair and modernise the facility have been unsuccessful. However, the current rehabilitation project, led by NNPC Limited, is showing promising results.

The NNPC’s completion of the first phase of the rehabilitation project is considered a significant achievement as it allows for the restart of the refinery’s operations. This includes mechanical completion, which is the stage where all of the refinery’s equipment and systems are tested and commissioned. This is followed by the flare start-up, where the refinery is brought online and the first hydrocarbon is introduced into the system.

Once the first phase is completed, the refinery is expected to commence  operations at a partial capacity by December 31, which will be a major step forward in the rehabilitation process. 

Speaking during an inspection tour of the rehabilitation project, which also coincided with the 15th Refineries’ Rehabilitation Steering Committee Meeting, Mele Kyari, the Group chief executive officer of the NNPC, noted that as of December 15, 2023, 84.4 per cent of Area 5 Plant, a key component of the refinery, and 77.4 per cent of the entire rehabilitation project had been completed. 

“In our quest to ensure that this refinery is re-streamed to continue to deliver value to Nigerians, we made a promise that we will reach a mechanical completion of phase one of the rehabilitation project by the end of December and get the other plants running in 2024. Today, we have kept those commitments,” Kyari stated.

The GCEO commended the NNPC Ltd.’s staff and the EPCIC contractors for doing a great job in ensuring that the refinery achieved that significant milestone.

Pius Akinyelure, Chairman of the NNPC Ltd Board, described the progress made on the rehabilitation project as “historic” and congratulated the NNPC staff and management team for their hard work and dedication. He said that the board was proud of the progress that had been made so far and was confident that the entire project would be completed on schedule.

“We are just starting. We want to be at the highest level of production so that we will keep the prices of petroleum prices in the country stable in order to give comfort to our people and generate more revenue for our country,” Akinyelure noted.

Also speaking,Heineken Lokpobiri, the minister of state for petroleum resources (Oil), said the milestone is another landmark of the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.

He thanked Nigerians for their patience and the trust they have in NNPC Ltd.’s ability to deliver on this huge project.

In his address,Ekperikpe Ekpo, the minister of State for petroleum (Gas), said re-streaming the refinery will herald a good omen for the nation’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) industry, as LPG, also known as cooking gas, is a major bye-product of the Refinery.

Fabio Del Cioppo, the managing director of Tecnimont Nig. Ltd., one of the EPC contractors of the rehabilitation project, said his company remains committed to fulfilling the terms of the contract.

The PHRC rehabilitation project, which costs about $1.5bn, is an EPCIC project that covers engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning phases. For Area 5, the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation have all been completed. The mechanical completion signifies the closure of the construction and installation phases.

It is worth noting that the achievement of the milestone was accomplished with a perfect HSE record, with over 9.5 million manhours without a single Lost Time Injury (LTI).