Port Harcourt refinery to begin production in two weeks

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Barring any further change in date, the Port Harcourt refinery will begin delivering refined petroleum products two weeks from now.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari, stated this in Abuja on Thursday.

Kyari, who spoke at the National Assembly shortly after meeting with the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Turnaround Maintenance of the country’s four refineries, disclosed that the rehabilitation of the refinery had been completed, having passed its “completion mechanical” procedure.

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He disclosed that the Warri refinery was almost ready too, while the refinery in Kaduna would be completed and ready to go into production in December this year.

Kyari spoke further, “Completion mechanical means that you are done with your rehabilitation work; now you are to test if this completion is okay.

“As for the Warri refinery, we have also completed the mechanical works on it and it is undergoing the regulatory compliance processes that we are doing with our regulator.

“This also will be completed and it will be ready.

“Kaduna will be ready by December. We have not reached that stage (of Port Harcourt and Warri) with Kaduna.”

Kyari explained that there were no challenges with the pipelines to deliver crude to the refineries, as the existing lines were fully pressurized to deliver crude.

“All crude lines are active and have actually delivered over 450,000 barrels into the Port Harcourt refinery.

“We are confident in its integrity. Yes, there may be security issues, but the government is also responding to the situation,” he stated.

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Kyari earlier met with the committee, chaired by Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah (Anambra-South).

To verify the state of readiness of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries and the extent of work done in Kaduna, the committee said its members would conduct oversight tours of the sites.

Kyari and the committee agreed to liaise and agree on the dates to commence the oversight visits.