Why PH refinery is not producing, by NNPC

The Executive Vice President, Downstream, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Adedapo Segun, has said the Port Harcourt Refinery is on course to produce petrol. He spoke in Lagos at the weekend.

According to him, based on the projections for the refinery to deliver the products to the market, it would be unfair to say the NNPC has not delivered, especially when it is considered that it is a brownfield refinery.

 “We gave our projections based on data available. The Port Harcourt refinery, a brownfield refinery, achieved mechanical completion last December and by August, we fired up the burners, meaning the distillation process has started. So, the Port Harcourt refinery has started the distillation process, but yet to produce products to tank specification at the moment,” Segun said.

He said the process at times is interrupted by other unforeseen developments, which invariably interferes with advancement in levels already attained and leading to a halt or restart of the process.

 “When the distillation is started, the temperature is raised over time and rises to as high as 300 degrees centigrade. At this stage, if anything goes wrong, because at 300 degrees, a lot can go wrong, you have to bring it down; you can’t intervene. It could be that the flames or the burner are not at the level at which it should be, because maybe the burner is clogged. You don’t go in there and unclog it at 300 degrees centigrade; you bring it to cool down, clean it up, you put it back, you start heating it up again.

“We’ve done this four times since August at the Port Harcourt refinery, and each time a different thing comes up. We have to bring it down to fix it. I’m very confident now that we are at that point now where I’m very, very confident all is set,” he explained.

SOURCE: Opera