The manager of the Old Port Harcourt Refinery has confirmed that the facility is now fully operational, amid ongoing claims and counterclaims surrounding the revival of the 60,000 barrels per day refinery.
Last week, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) stated that the refinery is currently operating at 90 percent capacity, contrary to earlier claims by the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), which had reported a 70 percent capacity.
In a statement titled “Halt the Rumours: Port Harcourt Old Refinery is Up and Running, Producing By-products of Crude Oil,” PETROAN, through its spokesperson Joseph Obele, emphasized that the association, as part of its oversight role, has direct access to the plant with management’s authorization.
The statement further read, “It is more important to state here that the functional plant at operation is the old refinery with the capacity of 60,000 barrels per day, while the new port Harcourt refinery with the capacity of 200,000 barrels per day is still under rehabilitation which is due to commence production soon as announced by the management of NNPCL. Both Refineries are within the same complex at Alesa Eleme in Rivers State.
In a statement issued on Friday and signed by NNPCL’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, it was stated that although the refinery’s nameplate capacity is 60,000 barrels of oil per day, it is currently operating at 90 percent capacity.
“There are a number of other wild claims made by the man, one of which was that the refinery was producing 1.4 million barrels per day. The nameplate capacity of the refinery is 60,000 barrels of oil per day. It is currently producing at 90 per cent throughput which translates to Straight-Run Gasoline (Naptha) blended into 1.4million litres of PMS, aside from other products like diesel and kerosene.”
The company responded to an allegation made by Timothy Mgbere, a community member, who claimed that the refinery was not worthy of celebration, as it was merely blending and releasing old stock.
In response to Mgbere’s accusation, Ibrahim Onoja, the Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refinery, dismissed rumors that the facility was not operational, calling them false.
During a tour of the refinery with journalists on Sunday, Onoja assured that the refinery was fully functional and operating smoothly. He questioned why Mgbere would spread such misinformation and urged Nigerians to disregard the false claims.
Dibia Isaiah, who introduced himself as the Chief Security Officer of Alesa Kingdom, called Mgbere an enemy and an impostor, accusing him of attempting to tarnish the reputation of the refinery’s Managing Director.
Dibia clarified that Mgbere was not the Secretary of the Alesa community, as he claimed, and that he was unknown to the locals. Additionally, Dibia, who works as a loader, stated that the refinery had been operational since Tuesday and that he had been actively loading products since then.
“I am a loader and also the Chief Security Officer of Alesa Kingdom. I have loaded four trucks. Tomorrow I will also load. People are coming with fake information to run down the MD and the Refinery.
I want Nigerians to forget the rumour that Port Harcourt Refinery is not producing.”
“They are producing in full capacity. We are happy with them, Nigerians are happy, Eleme and Alesa people are also happy,” he said.
The Terminal Manager of the Refinery, Molokwu Chike Jewel, attributed the slow pace of activities at the company to truck drivers.
He explained that despite repeated requests, the drivers have refused to come and load products.
“Products are available, we have been begging tanker drivers to come in since yesterday because today is weekend. That is why there is not a total turn-up.
“It is not our problem, it is the Tanker driver’s problem. We have been begging them since yesterday to come around and take the product but they did not turn up. It’s just this morning, after pleading with them they came,” he stated.
He also said that the Refinery has the capacity to load about 100 trucks in less than 5 hours, adding that products are available with its loading arms operational.
“Our loading arms are functional but because of the capacity we are using, we have a huge capacity to deliver. We are using three at the moment because it is efficient. The three, each one has the capacity of loading three trucks in 15mins.”
A tanker driver, James Onyema also confirmed that the Refinery is operational and that they are happy with the development.
During the facility tour, it was confirmed that production and truck-loading operations, among other activities, are actively ongoing.
It is worth recalling that NNPC Ltd previously announced that the Port Harcourt refinery has resumed production and the truck-loading of petroleum products.
The Port Harcourt Refineries consist of two units: the older plant, which has a refining capacity of 60,000 barrels per day, and the newer plant, which can process 150,000 barrels per day.
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