On Monday, December 9, 2024, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) announced that the new Port Harcourt refinery is now over 90% completed.
This update was shared by Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, during a visit by labour leaders from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to the refinery in Rivers State.
After multiple delays and at least seven missed deadlines, NNPCL activated phase one of the Port Harcourt refinery, which is set to refine 60,000 barrels per day (bpd). The complete rehabilitation of the facility, which has a total capacity of 210,000 bpd, began in 2021 following the federal government’s $1.5 billion contract to restore the long-neglected plant.
Initially, NNPCL did not disclose the volume of products like petrol, diesel, jet fuel, and naphtha that the refinery would produce. However, after public criticism, the company revealed it was refining 1.4 million liters of petrol per day—a figure that many experts deem to be low.
Despite these challenges, the refinery’s progress represents a significant milestone in the country’s efforts to revive its oil processing infrastructure.
