Adebayo Obajemu
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has decried the snail speed pace of the ongoing rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery, saying with this development it will be impossible for the refinery to start production by next year.
In spite of this state of affairs, the Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited, Ahmed Dikko, recently announced that the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery with a refining capacity of 60,000 barrels per day would be finished and deploy to use by the first quarter of 2023.
Dikko said that by the time the entire $1.5billion project was completed by the end of 2024, the refinery would have a refining capacity of 210bpd, assuring to stick to the timelines and within the cost approved for the project.
IPMAN Chairman in Rivers State, Dr Joseph Obele disagreed with the Managing Director of PHRC, adding that the state of affairs was a ploy by the government to remove fuel subisdy by 2023, even when the nation’s four refineries were not functioning.
