President Bola Tinubu has asured that the Port Harcourt Refinery is poised to recommence its operations latest by December 2023.
Tinubu made the announcement on Wednesday evening during a meeting with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) leadership, headed by Joe Ajaero, and the Trade Union Congress, represented by Festus Usifo.
Dele Alake, the speciala adviser to the president on special duties, communications, and strategy, issued a statement conveying Tinubu’s remarks late Wednesday.
Tinubu emphasized that production would kick off once the ongoing rehabilitation contract between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and Maire Tecnimont SpA reaches completion.
He assured his commitment to championing Nigeria’s best interests and encouraged the labor leaders to collaborate with him to forge a more prosperous Nation.
The Port Harcourt Refinery, situated alongside the Warri and Kaduna refineries, is a critical component of Nigeria’s refining infrastructure. In 2021, the NNPC embarked on the refinery’s rehabilitation, securing a budget of $1.5 billion following approval from the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The Refinery’s operational timeline has been the subject of multiple projections. Former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, had initially anticipated the old Port Harcourt refinery’s functionality by the close of the previous year, 2022. Subsequently, in March 2023, Sylva revised the timeline, indicating that refining activities would commence before the conclusion of the second quarter of the same year
