The full rehabilitation of Nigeria’s four refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna will commence in January next year, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, has announced.
Rehabilitation or turn around maintenance of the four refineries has gulped billions of naira since 1999. Despite the expenditure, however, they never work to optimum capacity.
Mr Kyari, however, suggests that the situation will be different.
Mr Kyari, who unfolded the schedule for the refineries’ during a tour of the Port-Harcourt Refining and Petrochemical Company (PHRC) on Saturday, said the corporation is determined to ensure the refineries achieve optimum refining capacity by 2022.
“We will stick to the schedule. We will deliver this project by 2022. We will commence actual rehabilitation work in January next year.
“We will do everything possible between October and December this year to close out all necessary conditions for us to deliver on the project,” the NNPC spokesperson, Ndu Ughamadu, quoted Mr Kyari as saying.
Mr Ughamadu said the NNPC chief believes that with the support from all the shareholders, including the present administration, NNPC staff and contractors, the full rehabilitation of the refineries will be achievable on schedule.
The visit to the refinery, Mr Ughamadu said, was a demonstration of the GMD’s strong determination and commitment to ensuring that the nation’s refineries deliver value to address the petroleum products supply needs of Nigerians.
During the tour, Mr Kyari reiterated his resolve to make all the refineries to operate at optimal capacities.
The repair of the refineries to restore the country’s refining capacity was one Mr Kyari’s cardinal programmes on his agenda as be assumed office in July this year.
On Saturday, he reassured Nigerians that the NNPC as a corporation would leave no stone unturned to actualise that agenda, saying a timely delivery of the asset was his management’s priority.
He tasked the contractors on the need to consider their reputation as the most critical element in business processes and engagements.
“It’s no longer about business now, but a reputational issue. For the original builders of the refinery, Tecmmont, Eni/NAOC and NNPC, let us be conscious of the fact that our reputation is at stake as far as this project is concerned.
“The NNPC leadership has promised this country that our refineries will work, therefore, we must work not to disappoint over 200 million Nigerian stakeholders,” the GMD said.
The NNPC boss challenged the PHRC management to ensure that the nation’s indigenous engineers and other professionals working in the refinery were fully engaged to participate actively during the rehabilitation exercise and own the process.
The GMD said the involvement of the indigenous workers will build capacity, save cost and introduce an era of steady and uninterrupted production curve that will grow the oil and gas industry.
In his presentation on the progress and milestones on Phase 1 of the projects, the Tecmmont Project Manager, La Mattina Carmelo, said the inspection aspect of the project has progressed to 91 per cent.
He said the final report and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) proposal stood at 75 per cent.
He promised that his company would deliver the first phase of the rehabilitation within three weeks. He assured that there were no challenges, as the project was progressing efficiently, pledging to offer its best services to ensure timely delivery.
In the same vein, the project consulting company, Eni/NAOC, represented by the project manager, Daniele Tamburini, confirmed that the work done so far by the NNPC and Tecmmont complied with global standard. Mr Tamburini said his company was ready to receive the full report of the scoping for final assessment and support the corporation to deliver the project in record time, saying the initiative was a good business for Nigeria. Earlier in his address, the Managing Director of the PHRC, Abba Bukar, expressed appreciation to the GMD for his deep commitment in ensuring that the refinery works for the benefit of Nigerians. Premium Times
Pix: NNPC headquarters, Abuja
