It explained that rehabilitation work had been ongoing at the Refinery for over two years and the NNPC Ltd. had pledged to complete Phase One of the project (mechanical completion and flare start-up) of Old Port Harcourt Refinery (Area 5) by 31st December 2023.
Kyari, had in 2020, hinted the NNPC would no longer be involved in the management of the nation’s refineries, but would procure the services of a company to manage the plants on an Operations and Maintenance (O & M) basis.
“We are going to get an O&M contract. NNPC won’t run it,” Kyari said, when he appeared as a special guest on an Arise TV programme, The Morning Show.
“We are going to get a firm that will guarantee that this plant would run for some time. We want to try a different model of getting this refinery to run. And we are going to apply this process for the running of the other two refineries,” he added.
The GMD (as he then was), explained that the plan ultimately is to get private partners to invest in the refineries and get them to run on the NLNG model.
In preparation for their rehabilitation, Kyari said the shutdown of the refineries has been scheduled.
“Today, after proper scoping, which was not done in the past, we know exactly what to do to get them back on stream.
“The three Nigerian refineries have worked only sporadically due to years of underinvestment. The government has been working to revamp them but has struggled to find external financing to do so.
“Running the refineries has proved costly for Nigeria, as they are decades old and poorly maintained”, he stressed.