The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is advancing in its initiative to transfer the operations of the Port Harcourt oil refinery to private entities. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, had recently declared the mechanical completion of the refinery.
In its pursuit of reliability and sustainability to meet national fuel supply and energy security obligations, NNPC is actively seeking reputable Operations & Maintenance (O&M) companies to oversee and maintain the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC). The company outlined the contract’s scope, covering various refinery processes such as long- and short-term planning, production and operations execution, monitoring, reporting, optimization, environmental management, health and safety, minor projects, and more.
As part of the eligibility criteria, interested companies must demonstrate a minimum average annual turnover of at least $2 billion for the fiscal years ending in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
During the testing phase, NNPC had initiated the supply of crude oil to the Port Harcourt refinery. The federal government officially announced the mechanical completion of rehabilitation work at the Port Harcourt Refining Company’s Area-5 Plant in Rivers State on December 21, 2023.
The first phase of the plant’s completion was declared, with the facility set to refine 60,000 barrels of crude oil daily after the Christmas holiday.
Located approximately 25 kilometers east of Port Harcourt in Rivers State, Nigeria, the Port Harcourt Refinery has been operational since 1965 in the country’s oil-rich Niger Delta region. In March 2021, the Nigerian government approved a £1.08 billion ($1.5 billion) budget for the renovation and modernization of the refinery complex.