NNPCL: WHY PORT HARCOURT REFINERY REMAINS IDLE
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The Port Harcourt Refinery is currently not operating, however the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has given updates on its condition.
President Bola Tinubu has often stated that the government-owned Port Harcourt Refinery would start producing gasoline, but this has not happened.
Speaking recently in Lagos, NNPCL’s Executive Vice President, Downstream, Adedapo Segun, addressed the delays and difficulties in providing an update on the refinery’s performance.
He claims that distillation started in August after the brownfield Port Harcourt Refinery finished its mechanical procedures last December. However, the development of complete functionality has been impeded by unanticipated technological problems.
As he continued to discuss the difficulties, Mr. Segun mentioned that safety procedures and the high temperatures used in the refinery’s operations are to blame for some delays.
He clarified that even small technical issues can cause the distillation process to stop because it reaches temperatures of up to 300 degrees Celsius.
He also contrasted the circumstances to those of the recently constructed Dangote Refinery, a greenfield project that likewise had a protracted delay between mechanical completion and fuel production.
Using this analogy, he argued that even though the Port Harcourt Refinery was not completely operational nine months after its mechanical completion, it should not be viewed as a failure because it was renovated rather than constructed from the ground up.
However, Mr. Segun expressed hope that the refinery would soon start producing middle distillates, telling The Nation that they are trying to have the plant up and running very soon.
He said, “We gave our projections based on data available. The Port Harcourt refinery, a brownfield refinery, achieved mechanical completion last December and by August, we fired up the burners, meaning the distillation process has started. So, the Port Harcourt refinery has started the distillation process, but yet to produce products to tank specification at the moment.
“When the distillation is started, the temperature is raised over time and rises to as high as 300 degrees centigrade. At this stage, if anything goes wrong, because at 300 degrees, a lot can go wrong, you have to bring it down; you can’t intervene. It could be that the flames or the burner are not at the level at which it should be, because maybe the burner is clogged.
“You don’t go in there and unclog it at 300 degrees centigrade; you bring it to cool down, clean it up, put it back, and start heating it up again. We’ve done this four times since August at the Port Harcourt refinery, and each time a different thing comes up. We have to bring it down to fix it. I’m very confident now that we are at that point now where I’m very, very confident all is set.
“Dangote Refinery achieved mechanical completion in May last year, started producing diesel (AGO) in March this year, which is about 10 months after. Port Harcourt Refinery, a brownfield refinery that we have rehabilitated, not a brand new refinery like Dangote refinery achieved mechanical completion in December and this is September, and we’re hoping to start producing middle distillates. The same middle distillates that Dangote refinery started producing in March, April, we’re working towards producing it in September. Have we been inefficient? That’s the question we need to ask ourselves.
“This is still nine months. But there’s a need to be fair in our expectations. We can set the range of when we think it (production) will happen. But this is a process that has to go through. It’s a process you can’t say, because I’ve said, I’m going to, I’m going to start producing in December, in January, or in March and there’s an issue with the process, and you just say, No, I’m not going to go through the process of getting things right. I’m just going to jump in and get this, get things going again. Safety is very important, and that’s why I do all I can to keep the people on the plants, away from the pressures of someone working in an environment that is in excess of 300 degrees.
“We’re optimistic. We believe that Port Harcourt Refinery will start producing middle distillates to tank this month. And we’ve said that before. We still believe that we’ve gone through everything since August. We’ve started firing up the burners again after we brought it down last night to fix something. This was thankfully an easy fix, and we are going to start eating it up again. So that’s basically what’s going on with the Port Harcourt refinery.
“But I’m very optimistic that products from the refinery will go to the tank this month. When you say that, you’re saying that because of what you see, if something unexpected happens, we can’t say because I’ve set a time now to force the process; nobody forces any process at 300 degrees centigrade.”
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