By Teddy Nwanunobi
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in its latest financial and operations report, disclosed that three refineries under its management could not refine a single drop of crude oil.
According to the NNPC, the trio of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC), Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) and Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) processed no crude oil in January this year.
The above report comes amid concerns by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the comatose state of the facilities.
Although it attributed this to the rehabilitation of the facilities, findings showed that the refineries had remained dormant in terms of crude oil refining, as all-through 2020 their cumulative capacity utilisation was also zero.
“In January 2021, the three refineries processed no crude and combined yield efficiency is zero per cent owing largely to ongoing rehabilitation works in the refineries.
“The declining operational performance is attributable to ongoing revamping of the refineries, which is expected to further enhance capacity utilisation once completed,” NNPC said.
Further analysis of the report showed that the facilities also posted losses in the review month, recording a cumulative loss of N5.37 billion.
A breakdown of their individual losses showed that KRPC lost N1.81 billion, PHRC posted N2.34 billion loss, while WRPC recorded the least revenue loss of N1.23 billion.
This came as the NLC expressed concern over the comatose state of the refineries, but stated that its position was that all the facilities should be revamped and put to efficient use.
The NLC Deputy President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, was reported to have said that the labour union considered the states of Nigeria’s refineries at its National Executive Council (NEC) held on April 22, 2021.
In the document on resolutions reached at the NEC, which was signed by the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, and the Acting General Secretary, Comrade Ismail Bello, the union said it considered recent reports on efforts by the government to revamp Nigeria’s comatose refineries.
“The NEC observed that the sum budgeted for the revamping of the Port Harcourt Refinery appears to be on the high side considering earlier proposals for an overhaul of Nigeria’s refineries estimated at about $450 million.
“The NEC reasoned that what is paramount to Nigerians is that the refineries are brought back to life in a manner that must demonstrate value for money.
“The NEC called on government, in line with the agreement reached with labour on September 28, 2020 to take very reasonable measures to ensure that all the four public refineries are rehabilitated and brought back fully on stream in good time,” NLC said.
The NLC demanded that such efforts should be on the basis of value for money since the country had already lost huge sums of money to phony contractors and their middle-persons collaborators in government who had defaulted on their commitments for effective Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries.
The union called on the Federal Government to be forthcoming and transparent on the implementation of the current efforts to revamp and reposition Nigeria’s refineries for optimal productivity.
“The NEC also reiterated its earlier calls for new refineries both regular and modular refineries,” NLC stated.
It would be recalled that NNPC has announced the commencement of the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery valued at $1.5 billuon.
The Chief Operating Officer (COO), Refineries, Yakubu Mustapha, disclosed this while speaking to newsmen shortly after a kick-off meeting for the commencement of the project in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.