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.
He noted that the NNPC began the commissioning of critical equipment and processing units after the mechanical completion in Nigeria.
“You may recall that mechanical completion of the PHRC revamp was successfully achieved several months ago, marking a significant milestone in the project. Following this, we began the commissioning of critical equipment and process units.
“However, as is common with brownfield projects of this scale and complexity, we encountered unforeseen risks and challenges,” he stated.
Nonetheless, he told this newspaper that the issues were resolved and commissioning activities have resumed.
Soneye stressed that work is being carried out to ensure the project’s completion.
“These issues have since been effectively resolved, and commissioning activities have resumed.
“Work is being carried out around the clock to ensure the successful completion of this critical project,” he told our correspondent.
Asked if there is any timeline for the completion of the project, he replied, “Shortly.”
It was observed that the NNPC desisted from giving new deadlines for the delivery of the refinery, having failed to meet its deadlines seven times.
The moribund Port Harcourt refinery is one of three owned by the Federal Government and managed by the NNPC.
Nigerians have been hopeful that the cost of fuel could crash if the country refines its crude and ends the import of refined products.
The NNPC said last week that it would continue to import fuel, saying it was not the sole off-taker of petrol at the Dangote refinery.
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.
This newspaper 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.
However, September ended without a word from the NNPC about the refinery, and Nigerians have been left in the dark since almost two months ago.
Recall that the contractor overseeing the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery, Maire Tecnimont SPA, refused to disclose the completion date for the project, despite a formal request from a human rights lawyer, Femi Falana.
Apparently baffled by the delay in the completion of the project, Falana had filed an official request under the Freedom of Information Act, seeking clarity on the date set aside for the project completion.
In mid-March, Kyari said the Port Harcourt refinery would commence operations in two weeks, April.
“We are serving this country with honour and dignity. And we will make sure that the promises we make on the rehabilitation of these refineries will take place,” Kyari stated after he appeared before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee investigating the various turnaround maintenance projects of the country’s refineries.
As the April deadline elapsed, independent petroleum marketers told The PUNCH that the facility would begin production by the end of July.
Commenting on this then, NNPC’s spokesman, Soneye, said that regulatory approvals from international bodies were the only impediment stalling the operational commencement of the refinery.