Port Harcourt refinery 90% completed — Senate Committee Assures

The upgrading and complete rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery is 90% complete, according to the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee to Investigate the Turnaround Maintenance of Nigeria’s Refineries, and is anticipated to start operations by the end of the year.

This was revealed in Port Harcourt on Friday night when the committee’s chairman, Senator Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah (who represents the Anambra South Senatorial District), took the group on a courtesy visit to Sir Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of Rivers State.

The remark made by Senator Ubah follows that of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), which said that the facility is almost finished.

Based on their visit to the plant and information from members who work at the refinery, the oil marketers informed media that the factory will begin distributing products any time soon through Tekena Ikpaki, the chairman of the Port Harcourt branch.

He mentioned that the refinery’s administration had also given dealers assurances that the unit will shortly start up.

Senator Ubah could not provide a particular date for the refinery to start operations, citing his committee’s mission in Port Harcourt as being to look into the work that has been done and evaluate how ready the old and new refineries are to resume operations.

He said, “We will recall that the old Port Harcourt Refinery was the first refinery in Nigeria built in 1965, and the second one was built in 1989. And for so long now, they have not been in active operations.

“And with the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President, and also the desire of Nigerians and our determination; the Senate led by our President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, we had a resolution in the Senate to look at it and make sure that Nigeria’s refineries are working so that we shouldn’t be depending on importation of petroleum products”, he said.

Senator Ubah stressed: “And that is one of the reasons that we are here, and as well to look into the contract and investigate the level of compliance vis-a-vis the contract specifications.

“We are pleased to note that what we saw is most encouraging as the refinery upgrade and full rehabilitation is almost at 90 percent completed. We are confident that the refinery will soon be operational before the end of the year”. [CONTINUE READING HERE]