According to reports, the Port Harcourt Refining Company, a refinery in Rivers State that is run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, has once more been unable to start up after roughly six delays.
It was noted that the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and NNPC had repeatedly broken their promises to Nigerians regarding the refinery.
Nigerians have been promised different dates by NNPC, the company in charge of all government refineries, since December 2023. It was promised that the refinery would soon start selling refined products.
The NNPC’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, declared unequivocally in July that the refinery would start up in early August.
The same Kyari declared in 2019 that before the former president Muhammadu Buhari’s term ended, the NNPC would deliver all four of the nation’s refineries.
“I can assure you, Mr. Chairman, that this nation will be a net exporter of petroleum products by the end of the year,” Kyari declared in a July appearance before the Senate.Specific to NNPC refineries, we have spoken to a number of your committees, and it is impossible to have the Kaduna refinery come into operation before December, it will get to December, both Warri and Kaduna, but that of Port Harcourt will commence production early August this year.”
But as August draws to a close, the refinery still has not started up, raising questions about whether this is just another broken promise from NNPC.
In response to questions from Punch correspondent on Tuesday, the NNPC stated that it was still on track—even after the early August commitment had passed.
Olufemi Soneye, a NNPC spokesperson, curtly responded, “We are on course,” in a chat with the correspondent .
When asked if he meant the refinery would still be in operation this month, Soneye did not respond.
According to The Punch, the NNPC declared that the 210,000 barrels per day refinery had reached mechanical completion of its rehabilitation work in December.
Kyari stated later in January that the refinery was undergoing testing and would be operational by the end of the month.
