Less than a month after it appeared to begin manufacturing, the Port Harcourt refinery has ceased operations.
Our correspondent, who visited the refinery on Thursday, December 19, 2024, noted that the lifting of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) had ceased.
It was gathered that petrol lifting ceased at the refinery last Friday, December 13, because the new Port Harcourt refinery’s 18-arm loading bay was empty.
However, around 18 vehicles littered the stretch of busy road going to the refinery, and nine trucks were visible inside the parking lot, but the loading dock was vacant.
The refinery, which is often a hive of activity with tankers vying for space in the parking lot, was a shadow of itself, with no vehicular or human activity related to operations.
Recall that the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, inaugurated the 60,000-barrel-per-day production capacity plant on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, to much fanfare.
This followed the approval of $1.5 billion in March 2021 for the facility’s rehabilitation.
During the facility’s reopening, a pet goat was lifted, much to the delight of the cheering crowd.
Our correspondent further said that as soon as Kyari returned to Abuja, things went back to normal, with stakeholders claiming that the petrol hauled during the inauguration was old stock from the storage tank.
When reporters first visited the refinery three weeks ago, they noticed that the loading bay was unoccupied & no products were being lifted.
In reaction to the revelation, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria stated that operations had been scaled back to allow for the calibration of meters at the loading bay and the de-watering of old stock, which needed to be emptied to make space for newly refined products.
Tanker drivers returned a fortnight ago and began loading again. Journalists were also given a guided tour of the refinery by Ibrahim Onoja, the company’s managing director.
Onoja stated, “The plant is running, and we are trucking out our products. We have carried out an extensive revamp of this plant and changed most of the equipment.
“The pump and instrumentation, the cables are all brand new. So what we have done here is a massive change and upgrade of the plant.”
However, when reporters visited on Thursday, it was learnt that production activities stopped one week ago.
Many drivers were seen sleeping in their trucks while doing nothing.
One of them, who spoke Hausa, stated that he learnt the lifting of PMS would resume next Monday.
He, however, expressed doubt about the information as he counted the number of days with his fingers and muttered, “Three days; they said they would load on Monday.”
The number of workers and visitors was easily counted because there were more security personnel dressed in black trousers and blue shirts.
Guards were stationed at the depot’s entrance and loading bay, as well as inside the loading bay itself. They kept themselves busy by chatting away.
Speaking with reporters, another truck driver said, “It was Friday last week they loaded last. About 15 trucks or so loaded that day. Since then, not even a single truck has been loaded till now.”
When asked if any explanation was given, he said, “I don’t know. Nobody is giving us any information or telling us anything. Some trucks that were here have left. I’m just here because my director said I should wait a bit.”
However, a petroleum product marketer, Mr. Dappa Jubobaraye, has decried the state of refineries in the country.
Jubobaraye alleged that since Kyari inaugurated the plant, no production had taken place, noting that everything was just a show.
He stated, “It was intended to deceive Nigerians that the refinery is working, and that is why they came up with that show. That day, only about four or five trucks loaded products.
“The loading meter was not calibrated yet before they started operation. Of the 18 loading arms at the bay, only three are working, and they have leakages. So, they have been trying to load three, four, or five trucks, sometimes 10, just to show that they are working while they are not working.
“Since Mele Kyari came and left, the independent marketers have yet to load products from this depot because the NNPC is yet to fix prices for them to buy tickets and start loading products. They are only loading them to their own mega stations.
“The situation right now is that loading of PMS is not taking place because they don’t have the intention to make this place work. It is just to deceive the people.
“If you come into this place (depot), you will see trucks packed and think that loading is on, but the truth is that they are not working. Some tanker drivers have gone because they can’t come and waste time here.”
He continued, “How can you come here with the hope of loading, and you stay here with your truck for two weeks, for what? Before the work stopped last week, they were loading up to 10, 15, but below 20.
“Ordinary one of the arms in the loading bay can load up to 20 to 30 trucks in a day. But for now, they are using only three arms out of the 18 loading arms inside the bay, and the three are just for PMS alone. They have not started loading DPK (kerosene) and AGO (diesel). And kerosene is what concerns the ordinary more.”
