NNPCL to Technically Privatized Port Harcourt refinery
NIGERIA, Jan. 16 – The federal government of Nigeria, the owner of Port Harcourt Refinery through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has concluded plans to handover the newly refurbished oil refinery to private operators, as the country’s biggest oil Refinery comes to life, Biztv24 learnt.
The NNPCL said it was making effort to engage reputable and credible operations and maintenance companies to operate and maintain the Port Harcourt Refining Company.
It said this was “to ensure reliability and sustainability towards meeting the nation’s fuel supply and energy security obligations.”
According to a publication on NNPCL website on Monday, it said the contract scope shall cover refinery business processes like “long-term and short-term production/operations planning; production and operations execution; monitoring, reporting, and optimization of operations; maintenance execution; health and safety; environmental management; minor projects and others.”
NNPCL demanded that interested companies must show that it has “a minimum average annual turnover of at least $2bn USD for the financial years ending: 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively.”
The Nigeria National oil company had commenced the supply of crude oil to the Port Harcourt refinery to test-run it.
Biztv24 learrt that On December 21, 2023, the Federal Government announced the mechanical completion of rehabilitation work on the Area-5 Plant of the Port Harcourt Refining Company located in the oil state of Rivers.
It stated that the first phase of the plant had been completed, as the facility would start operation, refining 60,000 barrels of crude oil daily after the Christmas break.
The Port Harcourt Refinery, located in The Alesa Eleme refinery comple, Rivers states, the country’s oil-rich Niger Delta region, has been in operation since 1965. The complex is approximately 25 kilometres east of Port Harcourt.
In March 2021, the Nigerian government uner the leadershiph of President Muhamadu Buhari approved a GBP 1.08 billion ($1.5bn) budget for the renovation and modernization of the refinery complex.
Privatization of the refinery has been a problem some Nigerians felt the political class want to divert the National asset to themselves. Recalled that during President Olusegun Obasanjo, the refinery (Port Harcourt refinery) and other two located in Warri, Delta state, and Kaduna, in Kaduna State were privatized to ensure effective management and operations. This was however, revoked by the Late President Musa Yaradua’s administration.
Another headache in the privatization of the refineries in Nigeria is the employees, who felt that the process will caused a lot of them their jobs.
Nigeria must get it right this time. The impact of lack of oil refinery in an oil producing country like Nigeria on the economy and the masses is unimaginable.