announced that the Port Harcourt refinery, which will resume
production from early July, would seek to bridge the country’s daily
domestic fuel supply and consumption by producing five million
litres per day.
The corporation stated this in Abuja and noted that from the revised
Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) strategy it adopted for the
nation’s refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna, the refineries
at Port Harcourt which benefitted first from the TAM would by the
end of June and early July begin to refine petroleum products up to
80 per cent of their nameplate capacities.
It explained that such percentage production would translate to five
million litres of petrol sourced locally every day for consumption
while the remnant of the nation’s consumption could still be
imported.
The corporation however expects that the TAM on the other
refineries would be completed within the next 18 months to
significantly improve domestic refining and perhaps cut down
importation of petrol.
Nigeria on the average reportedly consumes about 40 million litres
of petrol per day, while its domestic refining capacity has dwindled
over the years due to the poor management of its key refineries.
The two refineries in Port Harcourt have a combined refining
capacity of 210,000 barrels per day (bpd).
The other two in Kaduna and Warri have installed refining capacities
of 110,000 bpd and 125,000bpd respectively.
They collectively have a refining capacity of 445,000bpd.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Joseph Dawha, explained
that crude oil supply to Port Harcourt refinery would resume by the
end of June.
He stated this at an assessment visit to the corporation’s retail
outlets within the federal capital city, to ascertain their level of
compliance with the ordered accelerated distribution of petrol to
ease the lingering petrol supply crunch.
Dawha’s disclosure were further buttressed by explanations from
the Managing Director of Pipeline and Products Marketing Company
(PPMC), Haruna Momoh, that at 80 per cent operation, the Port
Harcourt refinery would give out five million litres of petrol per day.
“The refineries are undergoing rehabilitation in a new strategy within
the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM). We are carrying out phased
implementation of the rehabilitation of the refineries and what that
means is that we are checking the refineries unit-by-unit and
carrying out TAM on them,” Dawha said.
He further stated: “We started this a couple of months ago and they
have advanced to a certain stage. For example, the Port Harcourt
refinery has reached an advanced stage and will start receiving
crude by the end of this month. Of course, it will start contributing
to the availability of product in the country.
“What we did was to start a process where people will not know that
this is happening but we are busy carrying out TAM on the run and
this is simultaneously taking place in all of them.
"By the end of 18 months, most of them would have been
concluded to the extent that they can process crude optimally."
According to him, “The refineries were not in a top shape to receive
crude and get maximum value from them.”
He however said: “We are satisfied with the level of work that has
been carried out so far in the Port Harcourt refinery so that if we
start to send crude now, we will get real value and there will not be
any value distraction as would have been the case if they were not
operating properly.”
On the lingering supply crunch, Dawha explained that the supply
situation which started as a result of shortfall in importation was
then compounded by distribution challenges particularly in the
Lagos area.
He stated that while the import deficit lasted, the NNPC continued to
import as a supplier of last resort but was overburdened by the
distribution challenges.
NNPC, he stressed, has a stock level of 1.1 billion litres that would
take the country for about 27 days, in addition to firmed delivery
within the next couple of days.
“I want to assure Nigerians that we are coming to the end of this
scarcity as the measures taken by the Ministry of Petroleum
Resources, NNPC and other stakeholders take hold.
"As at today, PPMC has a Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) level of 1.1
billion litres, representing 27 days sufficiency. This stock is
excluding volumes with firmed delivery dates within the next couple
of days,” he said.
Dawha noted that with the commitment extracted from stakeholders
lately, the deficit and its attendant queues would significantly come
down by the weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment