Test-Run of Old Port Harcourt Refinery Commences

Contractors working on the turnaround of the Old Port Harcourt Refinery have commenced the test-run of the facilities of the plant preparatory to resumption of production of petroleum products.
The workers shouted in jubilation on Thursday December 21 morning, as the flare of the old plant was lighted. It had been more than 20 years since the old refinery was last in operation.
Though the old plant is part of the entire project to return the Port Harcourt Refinery to operation after a comprehensive turnaround maintenance, the procedures for the new plant had been slowed down to allow workers concentrate on re-streaming the old plant so that it can meet a presidential directive that petroleum products production in Port Harcourt should start in December.
With the lighting of the flare, the office of the minister of Petroleum Resources, announced to the world that production had commenced at the Port Harcourt Refinery. But staff working on the ground told National Point that 80 percent of the rehabilitation of the old plant had been achieved and what was going on was the test-run of the facilities.
“They want to test-run the flare line and some other equipment before main operation will commence. They have to commission these things to see they are functioning well before crude can come in. That is what is happening,” the worker said.
The lighting of the flare was also in anticipation of the visit of the minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Senator Haineken Lokpobiri to the refinery on Thursday.
Nigerians have been eager to see the Port Harcourt Refinery working again after the minister promised that petroleum products would flow from the refinery before the end of December.
Before then, work had slowed down on the turnaround maintenance project that is costing Nigeria $1.5 billion (about N1.7 trillion). The project, being handled by Tecnimont, an Italian firm, kicked off in January 2022 and is expected to end in four years.
Industry sources say the complex would be handed over for privatisation after the completion of the turnaround maintenance, a move that has received the endorsement of many Nigerians, who have lost hope in the ability of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited running it efficiently.
The refinery has been out of operation for more than six years now after the last turnaround maintenance failed, and the country began to import petroleum products at rates that have bogged down the local economy.
After many years of shouldering the burden of paying subsidy on imported petroleum products, running into trillions of naira annually, the new government of President Bola Tinubu stopped the subsidies, and launched Nigeria into a stagflation that has further impoverished Nigerians who depend heavily on fuel for a lot of their domestic and industrial needs.
Apart from the Port Harcourt Refinery, the other refineries at Warri and Kaduna have also been scheduled for resumption of operations after comprehensive turnaround maintenance.
Nigeria, a principal producer of crude oil, currently depends on imported petrol. The main other petroleum refinery, Dangote in Lagos, is still battling to start production after many failed scheduled dates of starting production.