Petrol scarcity: Local refining would eliminate delays at depots, reduce prices, say oil suppliers

The Nigerian natural oil and gas suppliers association (NOGASA) says the resumption of crude oil refining at the Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC) will lower pump prices of petroleum products.

Benneth Korie, national president of the association, said this while speaking to journalists on Monday in Abuja.

Korie said once production resumes at the Warri and Kaduna refineries, prices of petroleum products will “go down on its own”.

He explained that prices will reduce because the gap between loading at refineries and importation would be closed.

This sentiment is premised on the assurances of Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, that the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) would soon begin crude oil refining as it is being upgraded.

Korie said this would bring the total crude oil processing capacity of the PHRC to 210,000 barrels per day (bpsd).

“We have assurances from the minister of petroleum resources that the PHRC refinery will start working this December, definitely between now and end of January 2023,” he said.

“After Port Harcourt, other refineries including Warri and Kaduna will come up because work has been seriously going on there.

“Then you will see that prices of petroleum products will go down on its own because there is a difference between importation of products and loading from our refineries.”

Korie said the refinery, when operational, would blend automotive gas oil (AGO), premium motor spirit (PMS), jet A1, and other products.

He decried the cost of product distribution and delays experienced due to loading from depots, noting that once the refinery starts running, oil imports would stop and petroleum products would be loaded onto trucks directly from there.

“Formerly; trucks used to load from refineries but now paid vessels spend between 10 and 14 days to load product from depots as against one day. Marketers and transporters are suffering and sacrifice a lot in the bid to distribute products,” he said.

In March 2021, the federal executive council (FEC) approved $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery. The project, contracted to Tecnimont SPA, an Italian company, was to be executed in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months.

In May 2021, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited commenced the rehabilitation of the refinery.