FG Approves $1.5bn to rehabilitate Port Harcourt Refinery Repairs
Victoria Ogunrinde
The Federal Executive Council (FEC), has approved the sum of 1.5 billion dollars to repair the Port Harcourt Refinery in Rivers State.
Briefing state house correspondents on the outcome of the Council meeting held at the Presidential Villa Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva said the rehabilitation will be done in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months.
According to him, the approval was in fulfilment of the Federal Government’s desire to resuscitate Nigeria’s refineries to reduce the cost of processing petroleum products as well as boost the economy.
He said: “The Ministry of Petroleum is happy to announce that the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery will commence forthwith. It is in three phases.
“The first phase will be completed in 18 months, which will take the refinery to a production of 90 per cent of its nameplate capacity.
“The second phase in 24 months and all the final stages will be completed in 44 months and consultations are approved.
The minister noted that this is good news for Nigerians, adding that an Italian company would undertake the repairs and a maintenance company would also be put in place, to ensure effective maintenance culture.
“The contractor that was approved by council today is Tecnimont, SPA of Italy.
The minister stated that the needed fund for the rehabilitation work will be shouldered by the federal government, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Africa Export-Import Bank AFREXIM.
The minister also assured Nigerian that rehabilitation works on Kaduna and Warri refineries would also be carried out on or before May 2023.