Port-Harcourt Refinery Set To Produce 60,000 Barrels/day Soon – Minister

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has assured Nigerians that rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery would soon be completed and that the plant would refine 60,000 barrels of crude by early 2023.

Sylva gave the assurance while speaking with newsmen in New York at the ongoing 77th of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The minister spoke after the official launch of the Nigeria Integrated National Financing Framework Report (INFF), the event organised by the Nigerian Government, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and European Union.

He said the MoU signed on the modular refineries would help the growth of refining capacity, saying “our target as a nation is not necessarily to become self-sufficient in the petroleum products but to become a net exporter of petroleum products.

“We are expecting that by the end of this year 60,000 barrels capacity per day refinery in Port Harcourt will be functional and we also expecting first quarter of next year Dangote refinery that will also be functional.

“So, we are trying to add to that and of course you know that there is work going on in Warri Refinery and in Lasuna Refinery.

“So, we also want to have other refineries that will complement these refineries because in the end, we are not talking about self-sufficiency but a net exporter of petroleum as a country,’’ the minister said.