'I can confirm' - Nigerian government refinery to begin operation in December

Mele KyarI, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, has assured that the Port Harcourt refinery will take off in December 2023.

He gave this assurance while meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, on Thursday, November 23.

The Port Harcourt refinery has undergone a $1.5 billion upgrade after Italy's Tecnimont was awarded the contract to carry out the work in 2021.

The revamp was expected to take 44 months to complete, Reuters reports.

Expectations from NNPC on working refinery

Speaking at the meeting, Kyari said the rehabilitation of the state-run refineries will be completed, and by December 2024, Nigeria will stop petrol imports.

His words: "I can confirm to you that by the end of December this year, we will start the Port Harcourt refinery; early in the first quarter of 2024, we will start the Warri refinery and by the end of 2024, the Kaduna refinery will come into operation.

“This is the commitment we are giving today, and you can hold us accountable for this. In 2024, many of the initiatives including the rehabilitation of our refineries and also the efforts of small-scale refineries, and the upcoming Dangote refinery, will make Nigeria a net exporter of petroleum products in 2024.

“We will no longer be talking about fuel importation by the end of 2024. I am very optimistic that this will crystallize.”

In response, Tajudeen Abbass called for the privatisation of refineries.

He argued that some businesses are not meant to be run by the government, Punch reports.

Abbass said: “There is a need to make these refineries have multi-dimensional uses. If there is no crude oil, are there other activities that can make the workers active so that what they earn is deserved? I need you and your management to look at how we can turn around these decades of losses.

“One way to do so is to find a way to privatise these refineries. We have spent so much money and time deceiving ourselves that some businesses can be run by the government.

“In the case of the refineries, we have now realized that some sectors of NNPCL business can only be handled by the private sector and our refineries are one of those.

“The inadequacies will become manifest as soon as the Dangote refinery comes on board because the competition will be there, and inefficiencies of the refineries will become more naked.”