We reduced operations to facilitate upgrade, says PH refinery

The Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) says the refinery reduced operations to accommodate facility improvements.

Reports had suggested that the refinery stopped loading petroleum products at its gantry.

Speaking to journalists on December 1 during a tour of the refinery, Moyi Maidunama, executive director of operations at Nigerian Pipeline and Storage Company Limited (NPSC), said the refinery had not halted operations.

“We are evacuating the refined products from the refinery and this is obviously going to be a continuous process. We have done a couple of trucks today and intend to do many more today,” he said.

“So, the operations were not halted. It was obviously reduced due to some improvements that we needed to make.

“We are managing the process with the number of trucks available today, using a few loading arms for evacuation. This should be resolved soon.”

With several trucks loading refined products, Maidunama assured that product distribution is ongoing and the process will continue unhinged.

On his part, Molokwuu Joel, terminal manager of Port Harcourt depot, said the facility had commenced the distribution of products, including premium motor spirit (petrol), kerosene, and diesel.

He, however, expressed concerns over the low turnout of tanker drivers.

“We have our loading arms operational and we have been begging them (petroleum marketers) to come in since yesterday but because today is weekend that is why they have not turned up. If you give us 100 trucks today we will evacuate them in less than 5 hours,” he said.

“So it is not our problem if there are no loading trucks, it is the tanker drivers’ problem. We have been begging them since yesterday to come around and take the products but they didn’t turn up, it was just this morning after pleading with them that they came.”

Joel said although the facility has 11 working loading bays, only three are being used at the moment because of their high efficiency.

Each bay, he said, can load three trucks in 15 minutes.

‘PH REFINERY HAS UNDERGONE SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT’

Ibrahim Onoja, the managing director of PHRC, said the refinery has undergone significant improvements to increase efficiency and dependability.

“The plant is running, and we are trucking out our products. We’ve carried out a massive revamp, replacing most of the equipment, including pumps instrumentation, and cables. What we’ve done here is a significant upgrade of the facility,” Onoja said.

On November 26, the Port Harcourt refinery commenced crude oil processing after several years of being moribund.

The state-owned refinery also commenced the loading of petroleum products for trucks.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited said the refinery is currently operating at 70 percent of its installed capacity, adding that it intends to increase operations to 90 percent.