NNPC Boss Reveals Port Harcourt Refinery Misplaced N500m Month-to-month, Halts Rehabilitation Over Mounting Losses

The Group Chief Govt Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Firm (NNPC) Restricted, Bayo Ojulari, has disclosed that the Port Harcourt refinery was draining about N500 million month-to-month, forcing the corporate to droop rehabilitation efforts.

Ojulari made the revelation on Thursday in Abuja whereas receiving a delegation from the Petroleum and Pure Fuel Senior Employees Affiliation of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), led by its president, Festus Osifo.

Based on him, years of neglect had made fixing the refinery a frightening activity.

“If you repair one factor, one other drawback arises. So, it’s been very tough to get it working. On resumption, I prioritised the refineries for a fast overview, solely to find that we had been dropping between N300 million and N500 million month-to-month at Port Harcourt alone,” he stated.

Ojulari defined that regardless of pumping about 950,000 barrels of crude oil into the ability, lower than 40 p.c of the enter was being refined. He added that the plant might solely produce mid-grade merchandise as a result of just one part of the refinery was operational.

He additionally clarified misconceptions concerning the facility’s design:

“Individuals speak concerning the ‘previous refinery’ and the ‘new refinery’. That’s incorrect. Each items had been designed to work collectively. The previous part was meant to feed into the brand new to supply merchandise that meet market requirements.”

The NNPC boss stated makes an attempt to revamp the previous part proved suboptimal, leaving the corporate unable to supply premium motor spirit (PMS) effectively. The restricted output, he added, got here at a major monetary loss.

“Moderately than proceed to bleed assets, we selected to cease operations and discover a extra sustainable mannequin that ensures profitability and jobs,” he famous.

Ojulari additional harassed that President Bola Tinubu had not pressured him to chop corners.

“The mandate I used to be given is to ascertain a transparent baseline and guarantee sustainability. There was no political strain to maintain operating at a loss,” he stated.

He reaffirmed that NNPC stays dedicated to finishing a high-grade rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery, whereas ruling out any plans to promote the ability.