The Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited, Ahmed Dikko, has given an assurance that the rehabilitation of the Old Port Harcourt Refinery with a refining capacity of 60, 000 barrels per day would be completed and put to use by the first quarter of 2023.
Dikko gave the assurance at the weekend when the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on the state of the country’s refineries visited the facility in Rivers State for an on-the-spot assessment of the 1.5 billion dollar rehabilitation project of the facility.
He said the Old Port Harcourt refinery, referred to as ‘Area 5’, would be the first of three phases of the project.
He said by the time the entire project is completed by the end of 2024, the facility would have a refining capacity of 210,000 bpd.
“We plan to finish Area 5 by the first quarter of next year, so we can begin to run it. It is the old refinery. It is a capacity plant of 60, 000 barrels per day and it is a priority for us at this point.
Chairman of the House Ad-Hoc Committee, Hon. Ganiyu Johnson, who was conducted round the facility along with his members by the MD, expressed satisfaction with the level of work.
“So far on behalf of my committee members, we are satisfied with the level of work, because we did not expect this level of performance when we left Abuja. But after going round, we are satisfied with the level of performance.
“Nigerians should bear with the company. We know that the solution to oil subsidy is the refineries. The oil subsidy would be a thing of the past. We should be able to reduce it to the barest minimum.
