NNPCL Announces Date New Port Harcourt Refinery Complex Will Begin Operations

Kyari also highlighted that the old refinery, which has resumed full operations, is capable of supplying daily products to 200,000 trucks.

He explained that the key challenge in restarting the complex was the comprehensive overhaul of its equipment, which is all brand new.

Read Also: Port Harcourt Refinery Commences Crude Oil Processing

Accompanying Kyari on the visit was Ahmed Farouk, CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), and together they conducted a media tour of the facility.

Regarding concerns over the poor condition of the road leading to the refinery, which could result in significant traffic once truck operations increase, Kyari revealed that Eleme Road is now part of the tax credit scheme.

Through this initiative, NNPCL is repairing roads nationwide in exchange for tax waivers.

Femi Soneye, Chief Corporate Communications Officer at NNPCL, also announced that truck loading would begin at the Port Harcourt refinery on Tuesday, and emphasized that efforts to bring the Warri Refinery back online are underway.

The resumption of production at the Port Harcourt refinery comes after several missed deadlines. In 2021, the federal government allocated $1.5 billion (1.2 billion euros) for repairs to the plant, one of the largest refineries in the country, which had been shut down two years earlier.

Despite being one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil, Nigeria has long depended on the importation of refined petroleum products due to insufficient local refining capacity.

In 2023, President Bola Tinubu announced the end of the fuel subsidy program, resulting in a sharp increase in petrol prices.