Port Harcourt refinery operational, NNPCL counters host community allegation

By KEMI KASUMU

Allegation that Port Harcourt Refinery resumption was exaggerated, made by Rivers State’s Alesa host community secretary, Timothy Mgbere, on an Arise Television interview programme earlier in the week, has been denied by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

Mgbere had alleged the government-owned refinery was not yet producing fuel as celebrated by both NNPCL and the Tinubu’s administration.

While appearing on the national television on Thursday, he accused the NNPCL of lying to Nigerians when it claimed the refinery was already processing crude oil.

But in a statement on Friday November 29, 2024, the NNPCL spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, accused Mgbere of crass ignorance of how a refinery runs, saying he would not have dignified him with a response if not for a need to set the records straight.

“He (Mgbere) claimed that the old Port Harcourt Refinery was only operating skeletally and was not processing PMS. His proof was that the PMS truck-out was done at the gantry of the new Port Harcourt Refinery as against the gantry of the old Port Harcourt Refinery.

“This betrays his scant knowledge of the operations of the refinery. The old and new Port Harcourt Refineries have since been integrated with one single terminal for product load-out.

“They share common utilities like power and storage tanks. This means that storage tanks and loading gantry which he claimed belongs to the new Port-Harcourt Refinery can also receive products from the Old Port Harcourt Refinery,” Soneye explained.

The NNPC Chief Communications Officer noted that Mgbere contradicted himself by saying that the PMS that was loaded out from the supposed loading gantry of the new Port Harcourt Refinery was an ’old stock’ from the old Port Harcourt Refinery.

“So, how did the purported ’old stock’ move from the old Port Harcourt Refinery to the loading gantry of the new Port Harcourt Refinery?

“Going by the flawed argument of the so-called ‘community person’, old PMS stock from the old Port Harcourt Refinery can be moved to the loading gantry of the new Port-Harcourt Refinery for a show, but newly produced PMS from the old Port-Harcourt Refinery can only be loaded at its own dedicated gantry. This is nothing but ignorance on full display!” Soneye emphasised.

On the current capacity of the refinery, Soneye stated, “The nameplate capacity of the refinery is 60,000 barrels of oil per day. It is currently producing at 90 per cent throughput which translates to Straight-Run gasoline (Naptha) blended into 1.4 million litres of PMS, aside from other products like diesel and kerosene.

“We call on the general public to disregard the claims of the self-acclaimed ‘community person’ which are obviously borne out of sheer mischief and blatant display of ignorance,” the statement concluded.