The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has finalized plans to transfer the government-owned Port Harcourt oil Refinery to private operators as the refinery becomes operational.
The NNPCL is actively seeking reputable and credible operations and maintenance companies to oversee the Port Harcourt Refining Company.
This move aims to ensure the refinery’s reliability and sustainability, aligning with the nation’s fuel supply and energy security obligations. In a statement on its website, the NNPCL outlined the contract scope, encompassing refinery business processes such as long-term and short-term production/operations planning, execution of production and operations, monitoring, reporting, and optimization of operations, maintenance execution, health and safety, environmental management, minor projects, and more. Interested companies are required to demonstrate a minimum average annual turnover of at least $2 billion USD for the financial years ending in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) initiated the supply of crude oil to the Port Harcourt refinery for test-running purposes.
On December 21, 2023, the Federal Government officially announced the mechanical completion of the rehabilitation work on the Area-5 Plant of the Port Harcourt Refining Company in Rivers State.
The announcement disclosed the completion of the first phase of the plant, with expectations that the facility would commence refining 60,000 barrels of crude oil daily following the Christmas break.
Operating since 1965, the Port Harcourt Refinery is located in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region, specifically at the Alesa Eleme refinery complex in Rivers State, approximately 25 kilometers east of Port Harcourt.
In March 2021, the Nigerian government approved a budget of GBP 1.08 billion ($1.5 billion) for the renovation and modernization of the refinery complex.
