Port Harcourt refinery to resume operation

dimeji akinloye

November 30, 2015 7:22 PM

It was gathered the Crude Distillation Column of the refinery failed last month while production was on-going.

Petrol scarcity in Nigeria

The current fuel scarcity in the country may fizzle out soon as the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) Limited is set to activate all its process this week, in a move to boost Nigeria's fuel supply.

According to Daily Trust, the company has completed repair work at the refinery’s crude distillation unit where one of the columns collapsed, causing a shutdown of the refinery which produces 210, 000 barrels per day.

This made the lingering fuel scarcity in the country worse, following the withdrawal of private marketers from importation of fuel due to the backlog of debt owed them by the Federal Government had already cause shortage in the market.

It was gathered the Crude Distillation Column of the refinery failed last month while production was on-going - the development necessitated a shut-down of all the process plants.

Report said that, normally, restoration of the plant would have required urgent intervention from foreign experts and huge replacement costs - but because of the current fuel scarcity in the country which demands urgent solution, the PHRC management took the challenge directly by repairing defective parts in-country while utilizing over 150 host community youths in the process that conforms with existing community empowerment commitments.

“During the period, the entire workforce was mobilized and involved in the process while inspectors from sister Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) and Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) respectively were invited for support.

“Key personnel were relocated to the company’s proximate Lifecamp while all vacations were called off to bring all hands on deck as work progressed day and night all week.

“When hit with cash flow constraints, workers of the refinery, including security guards, drivers, contract and support staff, responded to call for personal contributions to avert an impending downtime, and N5.5 million was raised to procure critical materials without waiting for fund release from government”, a Daily Trust source said.

It was learnt that an estimated N640 million would cost the government to import parts that would have used to restore the plant, while delivery and mobilization of contractors to site would have taken several months.

dimeji akinloye