Uche Usim, Abuja
The First phase of rehabilitation works have commenced on the 210,000 barrels per day Port Harcourt refinery in line with Nigeria’s effort to attain local sufficiency in refined petroleum products. The Port Harcourt refinery is a twin facility comprising a 60,000 barrels per day old refinery built in 1965 and the 150,000 barrels per day, new Refinery, commissioned in 1989.
The exercise, flagged–off by the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, at the formal kick–off meeting in the premises of the refinery in Port Harcourt, came 19 years after the last Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) exercise of the nation’s premier refining plant was executed.
The project is being executed by Milan-based Maire Tecnimont S.p.A, in collaboration with its Nigerian affiliate, Tecnimont Nigeria.
Maire Tecnimont S.P.A is listed on Milan Stock Exchange with interest in international engineering and construction, technology and licensing, and energy business development, and has operations in 40 different countries, having about 50 operative companies and with a workforce of about 5,500 employees.
The GMD explained that once the phase 1 of the project is wrapped up, the facility should be able to reach 60 per cent capacity utilisation.
He added that the NNPC was engaging Eni/NAOC as Technical Advisor to support the rehabilitation of PHRC, adding that NNPC/PHRC would leverage Eni’s extensive refinery supply chain network and warehouses to procure critical materials for the project.
Baru noted that the first phase of the rehabilitation contract which would run for six months will involve detailed integrity check and equipment inspection of the Port Harcourt Refinery complex beginning from end of March, 2019.
The integrity test comes as a precursor to the second phase of the rehabilitation project which entails a comprehensive revamp of the complex aimed at restoring the refinery to a minimum of 90 per cent capacity utilisation.
Subject to the successful completion of the integrity checks, Phase 2 of the project would be executed on an Engineering Procurement Construction basis by Tecnimont in collaboration with the original builders of the plant, JGC of Japan.
Speaking on behalf of the contractors, Antonio Vella, Chief Officer, Upstream, Eni, said all the companies involved would deploy all available modern resources to ensure effective upgrade of the plant.
Vella maintained that with the commitment of all parties involved, it was certain that NNPC would be able to celebrate the revamp of the PHRC that would lead to its full capacity utilisation on schedule and in full safety.
Speaking on behalf of the workers unions, Comrade Odor Victor Ayiri, Branch Chairman of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) and Comrade Dibiah Joseph, Chairman of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), jointly pledged the support of workers to ensuring a smooth turnaround of the facility.
The NNPC had abandon its earlier funding strategy by its DSDP Term Contractors/Consortia due to onerous conditions demanded after more than twelve (12) months of negotiations. NNPC has resolved to immediate direct funding from internal cash flows while it goes to the financial markets for debt financing.