Port Harcourt Refinery Will Commence by August, Kyari Assures

Mele Kyari, NNPC’s Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), has assured that the Port Harcourt refinery is set to begin operations in early August.

Eko Hot Blog reported that Kyari made this statement on Monday during a session at the national assembly, where economic stakeholders appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance, led by lawmaker Sani Musa.

He highlighted that the operationalization of the refinery is a key step towards making Nigeria a net exporter of petroleum products by December.

Kyari also projected that Nigeria’s oil production levels would reach 2 million barrels per day (bpd) within a few months, citing that all necessary measures to achieve this target have already been implemented.

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“The oil and gas industry is crucial in transforming the current economic situation,” Kyari stated. “We understand its importance and have seen growth in our oil and gas production due to actions taken by Mr. President and our own declaration of war on production activities, which is yielding the desired results.”

He further stated that “The combination of these efforts has led to a restoration of production in our country. We believe we will soon hit the target of 2 million barrels of oil production per day.”

Regarding NNPC’s refineries, Kyari mentioned, “We have informed various committees that it is impossible for the Kaduna refinery to become operational before December. However, both Warri and Kaduna refineries will be operational by December, and the Port Harcourt refinery will commence production in early August this year.”

Previously, Kyari had indicated that the refinery would start production by the end of March, but this target was not met.

Concerns were raised by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over NNPC’s failure to deliver critical projects, including the Port Harcourt refinery. However, Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), clarified that such projects typically take time and assured that the refinery is in its final stages of rehabilitation.

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