By Ken Afor
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has finalized plans to transfer the government-owned Port Harcourt oil refinery to private operators, as the refinery springs into operation.
According to the NNPCL, it is actively searching for reliable and trustworthy operations and maintenance companies to effectively manage and maintain the Port Harcourt Refining Company.
The aim, according to NPCL is “to ensure reliability and sustainability towards meeting the nation’s fuel supply and energy security obligations.”
The NNPCL on its website on Monday also announced that the contract will encompass various aspects of refinery business processes. These include long-term and short-term production/operations planning, production and operations execution, monitoring, reporting, and optimization of operations, maintenance execution, health and safety, environmental management, minor projects, and more.
Furthermore, the NNPCL maintained that interested companies applying for these roles must provide “a minimum average annual Turnover of at least $2 billion USD for the financial years ending: 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively.”
According to reports, the NNPCL has commenced the supply of crude oil to the Port Harcourt refinery following the successful completion of the rehabilitation efforts on the Area-5 Plant on December 21, 2023. The refinery is expected to process 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
It would be recalled that in March 2021, the Nigerian government granted a budget of GBP 1.08 billion ($1.5 billion) for the refurbishment of the refinery complex.
