The Port Harcourt Refining Company has suspended operations just days after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd announced it had honored its commitment to restart the facility.
This unexpected turn of events was uncovered by a reporter who visited the refinery on Friday, finding the facility inactive with no apparent signs of operation.
Sources within the refinery also revealed that workers had shared the facility was undergoing a calibration process, which could continue into next week.
Furthermore, a recent report quoted an anonymous refinery official who claimed that the trucks loaded on Tuesday were actually carrying “dead stock.”
The unnamed official shared: “Before the refinery was shut down between 2015/2016, we had dead stock left in the tank, including some Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) DPK (kerosene), and Automated Gas Oil (diesel).
“So, these products were in large quantities in stores in those tanks. During the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery, Old Area 5, those products were evacuated from the tanks for storage.”
The source further explained that the large quantity of refined petrol was “off-spec” and needed to be separated from water in order to obtain the main product in the desired colours.
“But for DPK, it is in large quantity but they have not pushed it from the tank where it was kept after refined ready for commercial purposes.
“So, the product that was loaded was dead stock, that is the old product that was in the system. So, after these dead stocks, they will have to clean the tank, remove all the debris before pumping the new project into that tank, and redye it.”
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