PHRC set July deadline to upscale utilisation

The Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) Limited has set July target to optimise processing capacity of its 210,000 barrels per day – bpd,.refinery to upscale production of petroleum products. It disclosed that through the commencement of comprehensive but phased rehabilitation project the prevailng of product scarcity will be addressed.

Managing Director of the company, Dr. Bafred Audu Enjugu, said in a statement at the weekend that the rehabilitation exercise being carried out in phases as a strategy that would permit

operations to progress at available units of the complex which would ensure that repair works continues on other processing units.

He further noted that the company, with support of the parent Nigerian National Petroleum

Corporation (NNPC), has used the period of crude supply glitch at the refinery to embark on rehabilitation of Area I which hosts the crude distillation unit (CDU) to pave way for simultaneous operations and upgrade of other units ahead of July when crude supply to the plant is expected to be restored.

Enjugu explained that Area I of the refining complex is prioritised because of process sequence while the optimisation units such as the Catalytic Reformation Unit (CRU) and the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) are to be rehabilitated subsequently.

The later units, he said, further process initial output of the CDU to produce premium products used for blending primary products of CDU to achieve products of high octane rating.

The 210, 000 barrel per day refinery is expected to exceed 80 percent availability by first quarter of 2016 when all the units are expected to have been fully revamped and upgraded.

The contract for Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the refinery was planned to be handled by the original builders of the plant but the JGC of Japan, which built the plant could not honour the contract due to security concerns about Nigeria.

The Japanese contractors however recommended Technimont of Italy to carry out the job.