Page 4 - AfrOil Week 16 2022

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

Port Harcourt refinery (Photo: NNPC)
Port Harcourt update: Nigerian

refining progress continues

Nigeria’s downstream sector has had some false dawns, but the pieces may finally be falling into place

NIGERIA is ramping up towards a refining should be completed early next year.
renaissance that has been decades in the mak- Following a visit to the 210,000 bpd facility,
WHAT: ing, as its largest state-owned asset nears a return the minister lauded work carried out to date and
Refining is expected to action and testing continues ahead of the said it should reach 60,000 bpd by April 2023. A
to resume at the Port launch of a hotly anticipated greenfield unit. previous date of September this year was tabbed
Harcourt refinery within State-owned Nigeria National Petroleum for the first refined product deliveries, though
the next 12 months, as Corp. (NNPC) took its full 445,000 barrel per Sylva did not mention early-stage operations.
testing brings the private day (bpd) refining slate out of operation in 2019 PHRC comprises a 60,000 bpd unit built in
Dangote refinery nearer for rehabilitation work, the cost of which has 1965, known as Area 5, and a newer unit built
to operations. drawn the public’s ire. in 1989 capable of processing 150,000 bpd
The issue has become highly politicised with of crude. It has been offline since 2019 amid
WHY: the government coming under intense criticism reports that no comprehensive turnaround
Nigeria has sought for for continuing to spend heavily to keep the lights maintenance (TAM) had been carried out for as
years to end its reliance
on petroleum product on at its offline refineries. Meanwhile, paying long as 40 years.
imports, and it is finally significant utility bills pales somewhat in com- Having secured a $1bn loan from Cai-
closing in on that goal. parison to the impact of decades without carry- ro-based African Export-Import Bank (Afrex-
ing out proper maintenance with the overhaul imbank) in February 2021, the Nigerian
WHAT NEXT: work to cost nearly $3bn. government awarded a $1.5bn contract to Italy’s
Modular refineries have Maire Tecnimont two months later covering the
played an important part Port Harcourt progress engineering, procurement and construction
in the supply chain for Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum (EPC) work to revive the refinery.
remote communities, and Resources Timipre Sylva said last week that the The original plan was to achieve 90% of its
their success is leading first phase of ongoing repair work to rehabilitate nameplate capacity by 2023, with the second
to more investment. the Port Harcourt Refining Complex (PHRC) and third phases six and 26 months later.

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