The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited says it has completed the supply of 475,000 barrels of crude oil to the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited.
The supply of crude to the facility came a few weeks after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited launched a search for private operators to run the government refinery.
The NNPCL said in January it was seeking to engage reputable and credible operations and maintenance companies to run the Port Harcourt refinery.
But the SPDC, which just agreed to sell its onshore oil business in the Niger Delta, said it supplied crude oil to the refinery in furtherance of the Federal Government’s commitment to increase domestic refining capacity, and make petroleum products more readily available in the country.
A statement by the Shell Nigeria’s Media Relations Manager, Abimbola Essien-Nelson, on Monday disclosed that the company, through its Bonny Oil & Gas Terminal, completed the supply of over 475,000bbls of crude oil to the oil refinery in Rivers State.
According to Essien-Nelson, BOGT resumed the supply last week after a prolonged outage of over five years, during which time the Port Harcourt refinery underwent rehabilitation and integrity activities on its supply pipeline from Bonny Oil & Gas Terminal.
Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria and Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Dr Osagie Okunbor, was quoted as saying, “Teams from BOGT and PHRC worked through intensive preparations, collaboration, and dedication to make the project successful.
“This is indeed a significant step in the nation’s renewed efforts to utilise key infrastructures to assure the steady supply of products from the refining company to the Nigerian market, adding that “future supplies from BOGT would be guided by the demand for the product.”
Also, the Bonny Terminal Installation Manager, Osita Nnajiofor, was quoted as saying that before implementing the supplies of the product to the refining company, the project teams first gave assurance of the integrity of the pipelines relevant to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited subsidiaries, as well as the integrity and maintenance activities on the BOGT refinery export pumps, which had been shut down for an extended period.
Nnajiofor explained, “These actions resulted in the successful and safe completion of the refinery supply with no harm to people, environment, or equipment.
“The recommencement of crude oil supply from the Bonny Oil and Gas Terminal to the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited is a significant achievement and a game-changer for the industry and the country and will support Federal Government’s aspiration of steady supply of petroleum products to the downstream market and other associated benefits to the economy of the nation.”
Earlier, the NNPCL said had commenced the supply of crude oil to the Port Harcourt refinery for test-run.
On December 21, 2023, the Federal Government announced the mechanical completion of rehabilitation work on the Area-5 Plant of the refining company.
Though the government said the first phase of the plant had been completed and would start refining 60,000 barrels of crude oil daily after the Christmas break, it later said the refinery was being tested and would be ready by the end of January.
The Port Harcourt Refinery, situated in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region, has been in operation since 1965, but later became moribund for several years. The Alesa Eleme refinery complex is approximately 25km east of Port Harcourt.
In March 2021, the Nigerian government acquired a $1.5bn loan for the renovation and modernisation of the refinery; a move that was criticised by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who advocated the sale of all government refineries.
While reacting to the plan to hand the refinery over to private managers, Atiku tackled former President Muhammadu Buhari and the incumbent President Bola Tinubu for failing to heed his advice that the refinery and others owned by the government should be sold to private individuals.
Earlier in 2021, Atiku faulted Buhari’s approval of $1.5bn for the renovation of the Port Harcourt refinery.
Marketers await products
Meanwhile, oil marketers have expressed excitement over the supply of crude oil to Port Harcourt refinery by the SPDC.
Marketers, under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria said the supply of crude oil to the refinery was an indication it would start production of petrol and other products soon.
IPMAN National President, Abubakar Maigandi, in an interview with The PUNCH on Monday said, “We are very happy because if Port Harcourt refinery is working, definitely, we are going to reduce importation and it will add to the economy of the country. And probably, the price of the product will come a little bit lower. So, it is a welcome development. It will provide employment opportunities. Instead of selling our jobs to another country, the job will come back to our country.”
Maigandi said marketers were looking forward to the sale of refined petroleum products from the facility.
“We are waiting for the refinery to start selling; even if the daily production will not be enough for all Nigerians, at least it will solve some certain problems that we have. Whatever we produce here, we can’t import it again, we are going to use it here in the country. We are expecting fuel from Port Harcourt refinery, Dangote refinery, and even Warri refinery. By the time these refineries start functioning, things will come down,” the IPMAN president said.
