AMID controversies surrounding its reopening, the Old Port Harcourt Refinery manager, Ibrahim Onoja, has said the facility is now fully operational.
His claim came in the wake of allegations that have continued to trail the resuscitation of the 60,000 barrels per day refinery.
With recent revelations of flaws in the refinery’s operations, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) management has faced a deluge of questions arising from the operations of the newly rehabilitated Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC).
Questions dogging the refinery’s operation include the veracity of petroleum products loading at the refinery as claimed by the NNPCL when it conducted stakeholders around the facility when the refinery resumed operations on Tuesday, November 26.
Last week, the NNPCL said the facility was working at 90 per cent capacity, and not 70 per cent as earlier stated by The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN).
In a statement titled “Halt the rumours: Port Harcourt Old Refinery is up and running, producing by-products of crude oil”, and signed by its spokesperson, Joseph Obele, on Thursday, November 28, PETROAN noted that as part of its oversight function, it had direct access to the plant on the authorisation of management.
The statement further read, “It is more important to state here that the functional plant at operation is the old refinery with the capacity of 60,000 barrels per day, while the new Port Harcourt Refinery with the capacity of 200,000 barrels per day is still under rehabilitation which is due to commence production soon as announced by the management of NNPCL. Both refineries are within the same complex at Alesa, Eleme, in Rivers State.
However, in a statement signed by the NNPCL’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, on Friday, November 29, the organisation said the old refinery was functioning at 90 per cent capacity.
“There are a number of other wild claims made by the man, one of which was that the refinery was producing 1.4 million barrels per day. The nameplate capacity of the refinery is 60,000 barrels of oil per day. It is currently producing at 90 per cent throughput which translates to straight-run gasoline (Naptha) blended into 1.4million litres of PMS, aside from other products like diesel and kerosene.”
The company was also addressing an allegation by one of the community persons, Timothy Mgbere, that the refinery was not worth celebrating, as it was merely blending and had pushed out old stock.
Reacting, the managing director of the Port Harcourt Refinery (Onoja) described as false the rumours making the rounds that the facility is not yet functional.
During a tour of the facility with journalists on Sunday, December 1, he said the refinery was fully operational and running smoothly.
He wondered why Timothy would spread such ‘falsehood’ and urged Nigerians to ignore the claims.
On his part, Dibia Isaiah, who identified himself as the chief security officer of Alesa Kingdom, described Mgbere as an enemy and impostor whose plan is to run down the facility.
According to him, Timothy Mgbere is not the secretary of the Alesa community as claimed, adding that he is not known to them.
Dibia, who also said he is a loader, said the Refinery had been operational since it was reopened and that he had been loading products ever since.
“I am a loader and also the chief security officer of Alesa Kingdom. I have loaded four trucks. Tomorrow I will also load. People are coming up with fake information to run down the managing director and the Refinery.
“I want Nigerians to forget the rumour that Port Harcourt Refinery is not producing. They are producing at full capacity. We are happy with them, Nigerians are happy, Eleme and Alesa people are also happy,” he said.
The terminal manager of the refinery, Molokwu Chike Jewel, blamed truck drivers for the slow pace of activities at the Company.
He revealed that truck drivers refused to come to the company to load products, as they have been pleading with them to do so.
“Products are available, we have been begging tanker drivers to come in since yesterday because today is a weekend. That is why there is not a total turn-up.
“It is not our problem, it is the tanker driver’s problem. We have been begging them since yesterday to come around and take the product but they did not turn up. It’s just this morning, after pleading with them they came,” he stated.
He also said that the refinery could load about 100 trucks in less than five hours, adding that products were available with its loading arms operational.
“Our loading arms are functional but because of the capacity we are using, we have a huge capacity to deliver. We are using three at the moment because it is efficient. The three, each one has the capacity of loading three trucks in 15 minutes.”
A tanker driver, James Onyema, also confirmed that the refinery is operational and that he is happy with the development.
During the tour of the facility, production, and truck-loading among others were confirmed to be ongoing.
Recall that the NNPCL said the Port Harcourt Refinery had commenced production and truckloading of petroleum products.
The refinery comprises two units, with the old plant having a refining capacity of 60,000 barrels per day, and the new plant 150,000.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.