The Port Harcourt Refinery Company commence operations in December of this year, according to a statement made on Friday by Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil).
According to a press release from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in Abuja, he made this disclosure while looking over the rehabilitation project at the Port Harcourt Refining Company plant in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The minister predicted that the plant would restart by December based on the rate of work seen at the facility. He was joined by Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo.
“Our goal in traveling here today is to ensure that Nigeria’s petroleum imports come to an end in the upcoming years. By the end of the year, the Port Harcourt Refinery will join the team, based on what we have seen here today.
“Warri will start operating by the end of the first quarter of 2019, and Kaduna will join the network later that year. We would be able to end petroleum importation if you combine it with the Dangote Refinery, and Nigerians will gain fully from deregulation, according to Lokpobiri.
The minister expressed satisfaction with the Port Harcourt refinery’s ongoing restoration work and noted that once all the refineries were operational once more, Nigerians would have a better supply of petroleum products and foreign exchange would be recovered.
Restoring the refineries to their ideal operating levels is a national dream, according to NNPCL Group CEO Mele Kyari, and the firm is committed to achieving that goal.
“We are aware of the problems with the availability of fuel in our country. But it is not our purpose in being here. We are committed to completing this rehabilitation project, as well as those for our other two refineries and any other investments made in the redevelopment of the country’s refining capacity.
We believe this nation will be a net exporter of petroleum products by 2024, Kyari said.
We are here to enter the field, the Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, remarked. Subsidies were prevalent yesterday. Subsidies are not available now.
People today are struggling to find a way to survive and can hardly breathe. Everyone is aware of how crucial gasoline is to our economy. To make sure the refineries are operating, everyone must be on deck.
