The largest refinery in Nigeria will start operating by December, the government of Nigeria announced on Wednesday.
After the federal executive council meeting on Wednesday, Timipre Sylva, the minister of state for petroleum resources, informed the media of this.
After the government hired Maire Tecnimont of Italy to undertake the scoping of the refinery complex and appointed oil major Eni as a technical adviser, the 60,000 barrels per day Port Harcourt Refinery was shut down in March 2019 for the first phase of restoration work.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited reported in 2021 that repairs had begun after the federal executive council gave the project a $1.5 billion budget.
On Wednesday, Mr. Sylva stated that the refineries’ renovation was still in progress.
As previously stated, the 60,000 barrels per day old refinery in Port Harcourt would be operational by December, and naturally, we still have some time in the contracting period to finalize the rest of the Port Harcourt refineries, said Mr. Sylva.
He claimed that refinery construction in Kaduna and Warri is also going nicely.
A few of you journalists will be able to accompany us on an inspection visit soon so you can see for yourself how much work needs to be done, he said.
The minister responded to a query about compressed natural gas (CNG) by saying, The CNG development is very much in progress.
