The Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, has informed that the Port Harcourt refinery is scheduled to begin operations within the next two weeks.
He made the disclosure during his appearance before the Senate ad-hoc committee that was investigating the Nigerian Refineries’ Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) Projects on Thursday.
Kyari stated that more than 450,000 barrels of oil were stored at the Port Harcourt refinery.
He said, “We are serving this country with honour and dignity. And we will make sure that the promises we make on the rehabilitation of these refineries will take place.
“We did a mechanical completion of the refinery; that was what we said in December. We now have crude oil already stocked in the refinery. We are doing regulatory compliance tests that must happen in every refinery before you start it, and I assure you that this Port Harcourt refinery will start in the next two weeks.
“Completing the mechanical work means that you are done with the rehabilitation work, now you have to test to see how it works. Of course, we have also completed the mechanical work on Warri refinery. It is also undergoing regulatory compliance; processes that we are doing with our regulator, and this will soon be completed and it will be ready.
“Kaduna refinery will be ready by December. We have not reached that stage in Kaduna, but we promise Kaduna will be delivered by December.
“Lastly, all the crude lines supplying crude to Port Harcourt and Warri are very active and we have delivered over 450, 000 barrels of oil into Port Harcourt refinery. We are confident of the integrity of it. There may be security issues, but the government is responding to that.”
