NNPC sets date for completion of Port Harcourt refinery after spending over N539bn for repair works

NNPC sets date for completion of Port Harcourt refinery after spending over N539bn for repair works

  • The Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has revealed the date for the completion of Port Harcourt refinery
  • In 2021, NNPC during the award of the repair works contract to an Italian firm, Tecnimont promised 18 months of completion
  • The repair works are expected to gulp over N539 billion($1.5 billion) NNPC believes it will be ready for use in few month's time

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Mele Kyari the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has promised that the Port Harcourt refinery would be ready by March 2023.

He made the promise before the House of Representatives on the resumption of investigation on the state of the country’s refineries.

When asked, Kyari, who was represented by the General Manager, Refineries & Petrochemicals, Mustapha Yakubu reaffirmed to the lawmakers on the expected date of completion.

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NNPC, Port Harcourt refinery
NNPC Group Managing director Mele Kyari Credit: NNPC
Source: Twitter

The House Adhoc Committee, chaired by Hon. Ganiyu Johnson, set up to conduct the probe said it was to ascertain the viability of the refineries in a bid to check the huge sums appropriated for subsidy in the budget, The Nation reports.

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Speaking at the resumed investigative hearing, a member of the Committee, Hon. Johnson Ogumah told journalists that Nigerians needed to know why the country had continued to import fuel when it can refine crude locally.

The committee had engaged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company NNPC and Sapien engineering company to handle the contract for the $1.3 billion rehabilitation exercise of the refineries.

Ogumah said:

"The facts are there. You know this exercise is investigative. We cannot conclude now. I cannot come to the conclusion now. At the appropriate time, Nigerians will know. This exercise came as a result of the oil subsidy money that we are supposed to appropriate for again.

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"We now say with this huge amount of money, we need to know what is happening to our refineries. Also, another committee was set up to verify the number of litres that we consume per day. Everything is working to arrive at a solution that will benefit Nigerians.”

Another member of the committee, Hon. Ibrahim Isiaka said the committee will embark on a physical inspection of the refineries especially the Port Harcourt facility, where a rehabilitation exercise was ongoing to ascertain the level of investment already made in them.

Nigeria loses 80% of oil production to theft - Pastor Adeboye

Meanwhile, Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), recently claimed that 80% of the country’s oil production is lost to theft.

The revered cleric said this on Sunday, April 3, adding that 90% of oil revenue is used to service debt in Nigeria.

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His words:

“More than 80 percent of all the oil we are producing is been stolen and nobody has denied it, it came from the government."

Source: Legit.ng

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