Page 9 - DMEA Week 30 2022

DMEA REFINING DMEA

Port Harcourt unlikely to refine this year

AFRICA THE managing director of Nigeria’s Port Har- would be proud of all these activities and begin
court Refining Complex (PHRC) has said that to have some refining capacity in Port Harcourt.”
the refinery will resume operations next year, The comments come just a few weeks
conflicting with a more optimistic outlook pro- after Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum
vided by the country’s oil minister. Resources Timipre Sylva said the plant could
PHRC’s Ahmed Dikko told a visiting delega- resume processing crude “by the end of this
tion from the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc year”.
Committee on Refineries that the oldest part Having secured a $1bn loan from Cairo-based
of the facility would be revamped and ready African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank)
to resume refining during Q1 2023, under a in February 2021, the Nigerian government
broader, $1.5bn rehabilitation project. awarded a $1.5bn contract to Italy’s Maire Tec-
PHRC comprises a 60,000 bpd unit built in nimont two months later covering the engineer-
1965, known as Area 5, and a newer unit built in ing, procurement and construction (EPC) work
1989 capable of processing 150,000 bpd of crude. to revive the refinery.
It has been offline since 2019 amid reports that The original plan was to achieve 90% of its
no comprehensive turnaround maintenance nameplate capacity by 2023 with the second and
(TAM) had been carried out for as long as 40 third phases six and 26 months later. The Italian
years. company, with compatriot supermajor Eni as
Dikko said that Area 5 would be the first to technical advisor, had carried out a $50mn, six-
be repaired, adding that PHRC would reach its month ‘integrity check’ including equipment
210,000-bpd capacity by the end of 2024. inspection and “relevant engineering and plan-
Despite having had to pay more to source ning activities” in 2019.
and transport equipment by air to expedite the Ganiyu Johnson, chairman of the Ad-Hoc
work, “we plan to finish Area 5 by the first quar- Committee said he and his colleagues were “sat-
ter of next year, so we can begin to run it. It is the isfied with the level of work, because we did not
old refinery […] The other parts of the refinery expect this level of performance when we left
would come a few months after that,” he said. Abuja.”
Dikko added: “We are on track and managing Once work at PHRC is complete, rehabili-
the process very well and would continue to do tation work will begin on NNPC’s facilities at
the best we can at all times to ensure that we meet Warri and Kaduna, which have capacities of
these expectations we put on ourselves so we all 125,000 bpd and 110,000 bpd, respectively.™

FUELS

Kenya revives subsidised LPG sales, cuts VAT

AFRICA KENYA’S government has revived plans to sell “Plans are underway, and with the help
cheap LPG cylinders to poor households, start- of Ministry of Interior and Coordination of
ing with those in Nairobi, in a bid to increase national government, all the beneficiaries will
consumption of the clean energy source and be reached,” he told Business Daily.
eliminate the use of charcoal and similar pollut- The government has also announced a reduc-
ing fuels for cooking. tion in value-added tax on LPG from 16% to 8%,
The National Oil Corporation of Kenya a significant amount for many households due to
(NOCK) will sell 6kg cylinders filled with LPG the rising cost of living partly caused by Russia’s
for KES2,100 ($17.67), less than half the market invasion of Ukraine, which has pushed up prices
price of KES5,100, Tuko reports. of commodities globally.
Cylinders will have burners with other Annual inflation accelerated to 7.9% in June,
accessories. the highest level since August 2017, from 7.1%
The KES 3bn programme, introduced in 2019 the previous month, according to the National
but not implemented widely following the distri- Bureau of Statistics. The central bank targets
bution of faulty gas cylinders by fraudulent con- inflation at 2.5% to 7.5%.
tractors, aims to distribute 1.2mn gas cylinders Kenya is likely to face increased price pres-
across Kenya annually over six years. sures on food in the coming months due to
NOCK chief executive Gideon Morintant reduced maize production stemming from
said the distribution of subsidised cylinders in the doubling of fertiliser costs and prolonged
Nairobi, starting in August, targets 60,000 poor drought, according to a World Food Programme
households. study.™

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