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After shutting down for almost two and half months, the 210,000 barrels per day Port Harcourt Refinery, the most viable of the three refineries in the country had a faulty start up at the weekend.
There is however little to cheer about as there are still other minor problems that could make the plant to relapse if they are not promptly attended to.
Sustainability of supply of feed stocks is one of the problems the plant is facing currently as what it has to operate with is said to be very little. This coupled with the uncertainty surrounding the functionality of the vacuum distillation unit (VDU) and crude distillation units (CDU), two very critical components of the plants.
If the VDU and CDU are not functioning the fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) that produces gasoline and which gets it feeds from will remain dormant.
The source told BusinessDay that the plant may never have enough feed stocks to sustain it operations except prompts actions are taking by the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC which supervises the management of Port Harcourt Refinery. It however bemoans the manner of NNPC management towards fixing the refinery in terms of making cash available for the repairs.
Despite it faulty start up some industry operators said there is still hope that it can still function to continue it production of about five million litres of petrol a day that would take care of it operating environment when it is finally stabilises. The country has completely rely on importation of petrol since it was shut down mid January this year.
Maikanti Baru, group managing director of NNPC recently said the corporation (NNPC) would not relent in its quest to get the nation’s four refineries back to their optimal, nameplate capacities.
He disclosed this shortly after receiving this year’s Man of the Year Award from Nigerian NewsDirect, a Lagos-based daily publication, in Lagos
He said as part of the ongoing reforms in the NNPC, the corporation had been holding far-reaching discussions with some consortia to get the best funding options towards the refineries’ overhaul.
He added that the corporation, under his watch, had recorded remarkable progress in resuscitating some of the nation’s critical downstream infrastructure, a development which had ensured seamless supply of products Nationwide, until the recent past hiccups which is now under control.
The 210,000 barrel per day refining plant suffered a break down when it rotor got damaged and this subsequently affected its Vacuum Distillation Unit (VDU), Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) the fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU.
The nation’s three refineries produced between five and six million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, per day in June last year with Port Harciourt Refinery producing the highest volume of about five million litres.
The other refineries are Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company located in Delta State, and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company in Kaduna State.
The refineries also produced between five and six million litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), also known as diesel, per day in June, he said.
The consolidated operational performance of Nigeria’s three refineries based on their capacity utilisation, has been below 20 per cent .
The facilities got 445,000 barrels of crude oil on a daily basis for the 12-month period but refined less than 15 per cent of this volume on average.
Specifically, the NNPC stated that the combined capacity utilisation of the plants from January to December last year was 13.75 per cent.
Their worst performance was recorded in February after they recorded a capacity utilisation of 1.72 per cent for the month, the national oil firm said.
It stated that the refineries’ best operational delivery with respect to crude refining was in October as they posted a capacity utilisation of 23.53 per cent.
However in April this year, NNPC said production outputs from the refineries had increased by 29 percent due to peace in the Niger Delta.
Olusola Bello
