The manager of the Old Port Harcourt Refinery has confirmed that the facility is now fully operational, following ongoing claims and counterclaims regarding the resumption of the 60,000 barrels per day refinery.
Last week, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) clarified that the refinery is currently operating at 90 percent capacity, not 70 percent as previously stated by the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN).
In a statement titled “Halt the rumours: Port Harcourt old refinery is up and running, producing by-products of crude oil”, and signed by its spokesperson on Thursday, Joseph Obele, PETROAN noted that as part of its oversight function, it has direct access to the plant on the authorisation of management.
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.
However, in a statement signed by NNPCL’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye on Friday, said although the nameplate of the refinery is 60, 000 barrels of oil per day, it is now functioning at 90 per cent 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 has also responded to allegations made by community member Timothy Mgbere, who claimed that the refinery was not worth celebrating, suggesting that it was merely blending and pushing out old stock.
In response to Mgbere’s claim, Ibrahim Onoja, the Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refinery, dismissed rumors circulating about the facility’s functionality, calling them false.
During a tour of the facility with journalists on Sunday, Onoja confirmed that the refinery is fully operational and running smoothly. He expressed disbelief over Mgbere’s falsehood and urged Nigerians to disregard his claims.
Dibia Isaiah, who identified himself as the Chief Security Officer of Alesa Kingdom, also denounced Mgbere, calling him an impostor with intentions to harm the MD of the refinery.
Isaiah clarified that Mgbere is not the Secretary of the Alesa community, as he had claimed, and stated that he was unknown to the community.
Dibia who also said he is a loader, revealed that the Refinery has been operational since Tuesday, and that he has been loading products ever since.
“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.
Terminal Manager of the Refinery, Molokwu Chike Jewel blamed truck drivers for the slow pace of activities at the Company.
He revealed that truck drivers refused to come to the company to load products, as they have been pleading with them to do so.
“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.”
Tanker driver James Onyema confirmed that the refinery is operational and expressed satisfaction with the development.
During a tour of the facility, it was confirmed that production and truck-loading activities were ongoing.
It was previously announced by NNPC Ltd that the Port Harcourt refinery had resumed production and truck-loading of petroleum products.
The Port Harcourt Refineries consist of two units, with the old plant having a refining capacity of 60,000 barrels per day and the new plant having a capacity of 150,000 barrels per day.