The refinery is already doing test runs and will soon begin supplying refined petroleum products to the market, it was revealed at a briefing in Abuja.
Oil marketers are concerned about how the devaluation of the naira versus the US dollar may affect fuel costs, particularly because the current exchange rate is almost N1,450 to the dollar.
Under these circumstances, it is unclear if the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited would be able to continue supplying Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) at the current prices.
Heineken Lokpobiri, the state minister for petroleum resources, did, however, address these issues during a gathering in the nation’s capital. He told reporters that the refinery in Port Harcourt is nearing the end of its trial run.
This notification comes after the Federal Government’s earlier declaration on December 21, 2023, stating that the Area-5 Plant of the refinery’s restoration work had reached mechanical completion.
Additionally, the government had said that the first phase of the facility was completed, and that after the Christmas break, 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day were expected to start being refined.
The Ministry of Petroleum Resources’ most recent report shows progress toward the refinery’s complete operationalization despite the delay.
The Nigerian public and industry players are looking forward to this development since it would increase domestic refining capacity, lessen reliance on imported petroleum products, and perhaps stabilize fuel costs in the face of volatile international oil and currency rates.
However, Lokpobiri said, “The mechanical part of the Port Harcourt refinery has been completed and they are still test-running,” in response to a question about the facility’s state on Wednesday. The refinery’s MD came here yesterday because I needed to ask him what was going on.
These were really important projects for our financial survival, and I think items will start to come out of there very soon. However, there are a few parts of that massive structure that need to be finalized mechanically before items can begin to arrive.
Remember that the Buhari administration put the Dangote refinery into service, but because it takes time to release products, they haven’t done so yet. Thus, in my opinion, the Port Harcourt refinery will arrive shortly, and the Warri refinery is in top gear.”
The minister went on to say, “If you ask me, we would have greatly increased our capacity for refining in the coming months.” I just saw a paper that said we will gain eighteen times more value addition if we tweak our items here.
Thus, I think that the refineries in Port Harcourt and others will start operating very soon. This is in addition to our modular refinery initiative, wherein we are providing 5,000, 10,000, and 30,000 barrels to certain individuals.
He stated that Nigeria will be able to meet its energy demands and supply refined goods to West Africa if all of these were combined.
“We applaud the NNPC for being able to supply PMS, but the reality is that every commodity in Nigeria is being impacted by the strengthening dollar, and PMS may not be an exception anytime soon,” he stated. Thus, it’s possible that its price may increase.