The Port Harcourt Refinery in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is currently undergoing rehabilitation, is set to return to full operation in December this year, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has disclosed.
This was contained in a statement issued by Nigeria Labour Congress after meeting with President Tinubu last week.
“President Tinubu gave his commitment to the Labour leaders that the Port Harcourt refineries will start production by December 2023 after the completion of the ongoing rehabilitation contract between NNPCL and Italian firm, Maire Tecnimont SpA, a statement by Dele Alake, Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications & Strategy said.
The NLC staged a protest over economic hardship in the country occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy in May this year.
The Buhari administration earmarked US$1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the refinery which had been idle for several years.
In May 2021, the rehabilitation works started and are expected to be completed in two phases, with phase 1 taking 24 months while phase 2 will take about 36 months.
The rehabilitation project works, according to Ahmed Dikko, Managing Director of Port Harcourt Refinery Corporation (PHRC), would create over 3000 jobs.
“This job is going to create a lot of opportunities for our local communities. At the peak, we are going to have about 3,000 personnel working here.
“The project has started today and by our project schedule, it is in three phases because we have the old Port Harcourt refinery here, which is 60, 000 barrel capacity.
“Then the bigger one is 120, 000 barrels per day. We have started and the first phase is 24-months and then we have 36. Ultimately the total completion about 44-months,” Chief Operating Officer, Refineries, Yakubu Mustapha said this in May 2021 as carried by Punch Nigeria.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com