Port Harcourt refinery ready for sale December 30

The Federal Government insisted at the weekend on the December 30 target for the completion of the on-going Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the two-unit 210,000 barrel-a-day Port Harcourt Refinery, Nigeria’s biggest, a move that will make the facility ready for sale.

The process of privatising all the four oil refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt is fixed for March next year, but the Port Harcourt Refinery is to be ready for this process before the year-end.

President Goodluck Jonathan has at the weekend approved the constitution of a steering committee for the sale of the nation’s four refineries and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke said that the TAM for the Port Harcourt refinery “will be completed by the end of the year, to be followed by enhancements at the Warri and Kaduna sites in 2014.

“We are right now undergoing a major turnaround maintenance program” of the refineries, Alison-Madueke said.
Ministry of Petroleum, Diezani Alison Maduek

Ministry of Petroleum, Diezani Alison Maduek

A source at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources told Daily Independent that the Federal Government “hopes to begin privatising al the four oil refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt next year, the reason it insisted the Port Harcourt Refinery must be ready for this process before the year-end.”

Warri has a daily processing capacity of 125,000 and Kaduna 110,000 barrels.

A statement issued by the Head of Public Communication at the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Chigbo Anichebe, in Abuja said the President also approved the commencement of the privatisation of the refineries.

The four refineries are the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited I; the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited II; the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited; and the Warri Refining & Petrochemical Company Limited.

Anichebe said, “in furtherance of the economic reform programme of his administration, President Jonathan has approved the commencement of the privatisation of the nation’s four refineries by BPE.

“This is in keeping with the transformation agenda, which seeks to catalyse and provide an enabling environment for the private sector to be the drivers of economic growth in the country.

“The President has also approved the constitution of a steering committee on the privatisation process that involves all relevant stakeholder ministries and agencies.”

The members of the steering committee which is chaired by the Minister of Petroleum Resources are the Minister of Finance, Minister of Power, Minister of Labour and Productivity, Minister of National Planning, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation.

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