NewStats: 3,263,604 , 8,180,724 topics. Date: Friday, 06 June 2025 at 06:51 PM 723e3z

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria has said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited had to shut down the Port Harcourt Refining Company to save its face.

IPMAN said the facility’s shutdown is insignificant to the Nigerian petrol market, stressing that the plant did not produce petrol for about three months before its eventual shutdown.

This is even as the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria argued that the facility will be of no value without the Motor Spirit (petrol) blending unit, adding that 30 days will not be enough to complete the repair exercise.

In an interview with our correspondent, IPMAN’s Publicity Secretary, Chinedu Ukadike, argued that the refinery had not produced any fuel in the past few months, wondering why the NNPC was just announcing a shutdown now. NNPC announced the shutdown of the plant on Saturday.

In a statement, it confirmed an earlier report by our correspondent that the facility would be shut down for a month for maintenance. According to the NNPC Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, the shutdown commenced on Saturday, May 24.

“NNPC Ltd wishes to inform the general public that the Port Harcourt Refining Company will undergo a planned maintenance shutdown. This scheduled maintenance and sustainability assessment will commence on May 24, 2025,” he said.

Soneye added that the company was working with relevant stakeholders to ensure efficiency and transparency during the exercise.

“We are working closely with all relevant stakeholders, including the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, to ensure the maintenance and assessment activities are carried out efficiently and transparently.

“NNPC Ltd remains steadfast in its commitment to delivering sustainable energy security for Nigeria. Further updates will be provided regularly through our official channels, including our website, media platforms, and public statements,” he stated.

However, in an interview with our correspondent, Ukadike maintained that the 60,000-barrel-capacity refinery has not produced petrol in the past few months after it was declared operational in November.

According to the IPMAN leader, the new leadership of the NNPC ought to have ordered a complete overhaul of the facility, saying the announcement of a shutdown was just to save face, knowing full well that the facility has been running far below expectations.

According to Ukadike, marketers have been buying petrol from Dangote, while others resort to importation. He maintained that the shutdown of the facility for maintenance just six months after its commissioning showed that something was not well.

“For all these days, we have been buying petrol from the Dangote refinery, and some others are importing. The shutdown of the Port Harcourt is insignificant. It does not affect anybody.

“The refinery has been down for years before it was rehabilitated and reopened last year; now, they are shutting it down again. That means something is wrong. To the best of my knowledge, the refinery has not been producing anything in the past three months. This shutdown is just to save their face.

“Well, it does not matter the number of days or months this shutdown will last; what matters is, will it be able to come back to give Nigerians enough fuel and work effectively like the Dangote refinery?” Ukadike said.

Saturday PUNCH had reported that indigenous fuel retailers in Eleme, the community hosting the refinery, kicked against the plan to shut down the refinery, accusing some officials of sabotage.

On Saturday, the spokesperson of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria, Joseph Obele, insisted that the refinery had been shut down since Thursday. He feared that the shutdown might lead to job losses and fuel scarcity.

In a statement on Sunday, PETROAN President Billy Gillis-Harry expressed concerns over the development. According to him, though the refinery’s shutdown for maintenance is expected, the association wants the NNPC to adhere to the scheduled 30-day repair timeline to minimise disruptions to petroleum product supply.

PETROAN fears that the 30-day schedule might not be realistic due to usual bottlenecks, potentially leading to further delays and exacerbating supply challenges.

“The association is worried that delays in the old refinery’s 30-day rehabilitation schedule may worsen economic hardship for millions of Nigerians,” Gillis-Harry said.

In his demands, he requested the inclusion of a PMS blending unit in the maintenance activity. “PETROAN emphasises that the repair process must include the Motor Spirit blending unit, as the crude oil cracking process is of no value without it,” he said. He also demanded the timely completion of the maintenance work.

“PETROAN demands that NNPCL complete the repair before existing stocks run dry to prevent market monopolisation and ensure a stable supply of petroleum products. Completing the repair on time will help maintain competition in the market, benefiting consumers and the economy,” he stressed.

Gillis-Harry recommended that the Minister of Petroleum set up a task force comprising all petroleum industry stakeholders to monitor the 30-day repairs. “The task force should brief Nigerians on the job progress every weekend to ensure transparency and ability in achieving the 30-day repair schedule,” it stated.

PETROAN further recommended that payments to contractors handling the repairs be made promptly to avoid delays and ensure the project stays on track.

Meanwhile, NNPC spokesperson Soneye had earlier debunked claims of sabotage, saying the maintenance would ensure the safe and sustainable operation of the refinery.

“Please be informed that the refinery remains fully operational. However, we are preparing to undertake a scheduled critical safety maintenance exercise aimed at ensuring the continued safe and sustainable operation of the facility.

“This maintenance activity, which will follow global best practices, is expected to last approximately one month. To ensure uninterrupted supply during this period, we have adequate volumes of AGO, kerosene, and other products,” he said on Friday.

Recently, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria said the refineries owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited can not optimally produce motor spirits but naphtha.

DAPPMAN’s Executive Secretary, Olufemi Adewole, clarified that his would not go to the Port Harcourt or Warri refineries for petrol because the facilities were producing naphtha, and were not optimally producing the much-needed petrol.

“The NNPC refineries, both the revamped Port Harcourt and Warri, are not yet optimally producing PMS; they are producing naphtha. Our will not go to them for now.

“But where we can get the product is Dangote refinery, and we are willing to work with Dangote refinery; we are willing to buy from Dangote refinery, but if we don’t get the product from Dangote refinery, the PIA allows us to import which is what we’ll go for,” Adewole said.

In November 2024, the NNPC said the Port-Harcourt refinery had resumed operations after years of inactivity. It said the newly rehabilitated complex of the old Port Harcourt refinery, which had been revamped and upgraded with modern equipment, was operating at a refining capacity of 70 per cent of its installed capacity.

The company added that diesel and Pour Fuel Oil would be the highest output from the refinery, with a daily capacity of 1.5 million litres and 2.1 million litres, respectively.

This is followed by a daily output of Straight-Run Gasoline (Naphtha) blended into 1.4 million litres of Motor Spirit, 900,000 litres of kerosene, and low-pour fuel oil of 2.1 million litres. It was stated then that about 200 trucks of petrol would be released into the Nigerian market daily.

The NNPC spokesperson, Soneye, stated this while replying to claims from some quarters that the Port Harcourt refinery was not producing fuel, but blending through Indorama Petrochemicals.

https://punchng.com/pharcourt-refinery-didnt-produce-fuel-before-shutdown-marketers/

Where is that uniport professor? No production, they are just paying salaries and gradually laying groundwork or scheming for the next TAM.

4 1 9 Government God save us

No matter how fast a lie runs . . . The truth will definitely CATCH-UP and CANTAB it

APC e-thugs propaganda can never pay

Now, the management of this corruption-ridden refinery would never be prosecuted or punished because the man seating atop the petroleum ministry is the corruption enabler himself. This country is terribly sick.

Let me laugh, same marketers that were loading tankers from Onne to Artillery. We know no refinery is producing, but the defenders of the universe were here shouting praises to failures. Nigeria is not serious.

Fowl yansh is now open.
APC = 24/7 LIES

Apc govt of propaganda, were re those people that insulted obj when he said oh refinery was not working, apc and tinubu just used it as a warehouse for blending and told his gullible agbado pple that the refinery is working, propaganda dnt build refinery, propaganda cannot rebuild and economy

IPMAN said the facility’s shutdown is insignificant to the Nigerian petrol market, stressing that the plant did not produce petrol for about three months before its eventual shutdown.

We knew this all long, APC really pulled a fast one on Nigerians

And many miscreants here believed the refinery was working. Too many docile people in Nigeria

Were they not lining up with their trucks to load fuel again from the refinery?

Mary95:
Were they not lining up with their trucks to load fuel again from the refinery?

You got the vibe. Many journalists went on brown envelope tour. Many youths, whose futures are being mortgaged still this evil.

Zoological republic! They don chop una again 😂

These are all scam by Apc. They use all of these to loot

As long as there is is no punishment in the corruptions in Nigeria the country will just be a merry wish of success

APC equals SCAM

Nlfpmod, nothing has changed.........

No insult way APC ers no throw @ Baba Obasanjo

Iyp

So why was the govt feeding the public lies that the refinery is up and running?
May God help this country oo

We know.
They took fuel from Dangote's Refinery to Port Harcourt and made the gullible part of the public believe it was Port Harcourt's.

Same pattern with "Nigerian Air"
Seroconverted an Ethiopian Airline into Nigerian Air to deceive the gullible part of the public which are of course the majority in Nigeria.

Same way Pentecostal Churches recruit Fake Miracle Artists into their coven to make it look as though their criminal minded PaPa healed someone

We know na. Political talk na today?

The refinery rehabilitation was purely a political statement

We know already

valentineuwakwe:
So why was the govt feeding the public lies that the refinery is up and running?
May God help this country oo

Are you a learner?

We all know , Buhari needs to face questions on what happened to 2.5 billion dollars for refinery repairs because not a dime was spent on the refineries