PORT HARCOURT REFINERY HALTS OPERATIONS, LOADING BAY EMPTY
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PORT HARCOURT REFINERY HALTS OPERATIONS, LOADING BAY EMPTY
The Port Harcourt Refinery’s loading bay is reportedly empty at the moment with operations halting just days after its reopening following several years of inactivity.
Tribune Online reports that NNPCL announced on Tuesday the much-anticipated commencement of crude oil processing at the Port Harcourt Refinery.
However, a visit to the facility on Friday by Punch revealed that the refinery was inactive, with workers on-site saying the facility was undergoing calibration, which could continue into next week.
The Port Harcourt Refinery, known for repeated delays and missed deadlines, had its new plant at Area 5 inaugurated by the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari.
During the event, Kyari claimed that 200 trucks of petrol were being loaded daily. However, reports later suggested the trucks were carrying old stock stored in the refinery’s tanks.
At the Area 5 terminal, Saturday Punch observed no operations taking place. A worker, who spoke anonymously, explained that the products being loaded were “dead stock” – leftover petrol, kerosene, and diesel stored since the refinery was shut down in 2015/2016.
He said, “Before the refinery was shut down between 2015/2016, we had dead stock left in the tank, including some Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), DPK (kerosene), and Automated Gas Oil (diesel).
“So, these products were in large quantities in stores in those tanks. During the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery, Old Area 5, those products were evacuated from the tanks for storage.”
However, he pointed out that a significant amount of the refined petrol was “off-spec,” needing to be separated from water to achieve the desired quality and colour.
He said, “But for DPK, it is in large quantity, but they have not pushed it from the tank where it was kept after refined, ready for commercial purposes.
“So, the product that was loaded was dead stock, that is the old product that was in the system. So, after these dead stocks, they will have to clean the tank, remove all the debris before pumping the new product into that tank, and redye it.”
The worker also criticised the refinery’s outdated systems, saying, “But what they are trying to do at the Port Harcourt Refinery is manual, which cannot match the new digital pumps. Most of the pumps used for the event were refurbished.”
He revealed that during Kyari’s visit, only five out of seven trucks prepared were successfully loaded with petrol.
Despite this, the Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Tanker Ikpaki, had expressed hope during the inauguration, saying more trucks would soon arrive to load products.
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