Page 12 - DMEA Week 14 2021

DMEA REFINING DMEA

NNPC and Tecnimont

sign Port Harcourt deal

AFRICA NIGERIA National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timi-
has signed an engineering, procurement and pre Sylva noted that once the rehabilitation has
construction (EPC) contract with Italy’s Tecni- been completed, a “professional operations and
mont for the overhaul of the Port Harcourt refin- maintenance company [will be hired] to main-
ery complex. tain the refinery … this is one of the conditions
The $1.5bn contract was signed by NNPC’s of the lenders”. He added: “That’s embedded in
managing director of the Port Harcourt Refinery, discussions with the lenders.”
Ahmed Dikko, and Davide Pellizola, vice-presi- NNPC managing director Mele Kyari said in
dent of Tecnimont Sub-Saharan Africa. late March that the “real cost” of the rehab work
The Port Harcourt complex is comprised of is $1.34bn.
two units, built roughly 25 years apart, with joint Meanwhile, the exec created some confusion
total capacity of 210,000 barrels per day (bpd), by saying that the latest turnaround maintenance
making it Nigeria’s largest refinery. (TAM) at Port Harcourt was carried out in 2000
However, it has been shut down for around and the high cost of the
18 months, citing repairs, though these have not
yet begun. Illegal refinery strike
Tecnimont will carry out the work in three Last week, Nigeria’s Security and Civil Defence
phases, with the first phase to bring the unit back Corps (NSCDC) said it had carried out a strike
to 90% nameplate capacity within 18 months, on an illegal oil refinery south west of Warri
the second to be completed within 24 months where state-owned NNPC’s 125,000 bpd unit
and the final stage within 44 months. remains shut for maintenance.
The Italian firm was awarded a contract in The NSCDC said it destroyed the illegal
March 2019 for a two-phase programme, with refinery but has had difficulty in accessing and
fellow Italian firm Eni contracted as technical removing facilities owing to their remote loca-
adviser. The roughly $50mn first stage included tion, while those arrested during the raid are not
a six-month ‘integrity check’ and equipment believed to have been those responsible for the
inspection at the site, as well as ‘relevant engi- construction of the refinery.
neering and planning activities’. Announcing the action, Commandant Chike
Subject to the completion of phase one, the Ikpeamonwu said: “It can’t be these once alone.
Italian company was due to carry out the engi- These are field boys or field men. The big man is
neering, procurement and construction (EPC) somewhere out there and we will get him.”
contract on the required rehabilitation. Alluding to the challenges of operating in
At the time, the second phase was to be ful- the area, he added: “We are having challenges
filled in collaboration with an unnamed ‘partner’, of logistics in accessing the difficult areas, where
which was later revealed to be Japan’s JGC, which the illegal refining camps are situated. Some of
with Italy’s Saipem was the original builder of the the exhibits have been destroyed, while others
larger of the two Port Harcourt units. are still at the camps.”
NNPC agreed a loan of around $1bn with Nigeria has struggled to get to grips with ille-
lenders led by Cairo-based African Export-Im- gal refining with young locals having few alter-
port Bank (Afreximbank) in February. Nigerian native means of generating income.™

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