The Port Harcourt Refining Company has clarified that its operations were not completely halted but scaled down to facilitate improvements at the facility.
It disclosed this on Sunday as the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria insisted that it would not buy from the Port Harcourt refinery if the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited sells fuel from the plant at an expensive rate.
Oil retailers had claimed that NNPCL was dispensing petrol from the plant at N1,030/litre. This is about N60 higher than the price of petrol produced by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
Although NNPCL denied the claim, it failed to state the price of petrol produced from the newly rehabilitated Port Harcourt refinery.
Speaking during a guided tour of the Port Harcourt refinery led by the Managing Director, Ibrahim Onoja, the Executive Director of Operations, Nigerian Pipeline and Storage Company Limited, Moyi Maidunama, said the plant was working.
Maidunama told journalists that there was a temporary hitch in operations, but explained that the reduction in operations was necessary to address technical issues and enhance capacity.
He said, “So, the operations were not halted. It was obviously reduced due to some improvements that we needed to make. We are managing the process with the number of trucks available today, using a few loading arms for evacuation. This should be resolved soon.”
He assured all that product distribution was ongoing, with several trucks loading refined products, and added that the process would continue uninterrupted.
The Terminal Manager, Port Harcourt Depot, Worlu Joel, confirmed that the facility had commenced the distribution of products, including Premium Motor Spirit, kerosene, and diesel.
He, however, expressed concerns over the low turnout of tanker drivers.
He said, “We have surplus products available and operational loading arms, but we’ve had to beg tanker drivers to come and evacuate products. We’ve loaded more than ten trucks already and expect to dispatch at least 15 before the day ends.”
Joel noted that the depot operates with 11 functional loading bays, but only three are currently in use due to their high efficiency. Each bay, he explained, can load three trucks in just 15 minutes.
“If you give us 100 trucks today, we can evacuate them in less than five hours,” he assured.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria said it would not buy from the Port Harcourt refinery if NNPCL sells the fuel at an expensive rate.
IPMAN said it was not expecting the Port Harcourt refinery’s petrol to be more expensive than that of the Dangote refinery or to be at par with the imported one.
The spokesperson of the association, Chinedu Ukadike, while speaking in an interview with our correspondent on Saturday, said fuel from the Port Harcourt refinery should be more affordable.
Ukadike was reacting to claims by the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria that the NNPC would sell its PMS at N1,030 per litre.
“If the Port Harcourt refinery’s PMs price is truly N1,030, it is unacceptable to us independent marketers. We will not buy from them. We will buy where it is cheap,” he said.
