The Federal government has given reasons why the Port Harcourt Refinery Company is yet to start producing two months after the September completion deadline.
According to the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Commission, NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye, said the company encountered some unexpected risks and challenges in the process of rehabilitating the refinery.
He noted that while the mechanical aspects of the refinery had been completed, the commissioning of critical equipment and processing units have been done.
“You may recall that mechanical completion of the PHRC revamp was successfully achieved several months ago, marking a significant milestone in the project. Following this, we began the commissioning of critical equipment and process units,” he said
He added: “However, as is common with brownfield projects of this scale and complexity, we encountered unforeseen risks and challenges.These issues have since been effectively resolved, and commissioning activities have resumed.
Work is being carried out around the clock to ensure the successful completion of this critical project.”
He was however mute on when the refinery would start functioning simply saying ‘shortly.’
