Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on Monday set a new August 2024 date for the old Port Harcourt Refinery to begin production.

It also said the new Port Harcourt refinery and the Warry refinery would follow suit, adding that the one in Kaduna would be on stream by December of the year.

The Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the oil company, Mr Mele Kyari, stated this in Abuja at an emergency session on the state of the economy with the Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Finance.

Both Kyari and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, also told the lawmakers that the country was close to achieving the target of 2 million barrels of crude oil production daily.

Kyari, who insisted that Nigeria would be “a net exporter” of petrol by the end of the year, especially with the coming onstream of Dangote Refinery, blamed the inability to meet the earlier dates set for the Port Harcourt refinery on unforeseen challenges common with the “technical completion” of rehabilitation processes.

He said, “Let me explain this very clearly. We did have mechanical completion of the Port Harcourt refinery, which means that every technical work that is required to get the refinery on to work has been completed. This is what we announced December last year, if you recall.

“Once you are mechanically completed for an existing refinery, even for new ones, there are a number of technical steps that you have to take when you are introducing hydrocarbons into this plant. It is only then that you will see the real challenges of even a new refinery. And I can confirm to you today that we have gone through this.

“We are already introducing hydrocarbons under a hot situation, that’s what we call it. And I’m very sure that by the latest, early August, the Port Harcourt refinery will start production.

“And of course, the new one will get to December. And Warri will also be in production. I’m very optimistic.

“I don’t have any confirmation at this moment, so that nobody quotes me and says, oh, you keep lying. No, we’re not lying to you; this is a technical process,” he said.

The emergency session, which was chaired by Sen. Sani Musa (APC, Niger-East) was also attended by the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Atiku Bagudu; a representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria; while the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, was expected.

Each of the top officials of government expressed their confidence in the measures introduced by the administration of President Bola Tinubu, saying that much as they were tough on the citizens, there were signs of recovery already.

For instance, Bagudu told the session that the government’s promise on student loans had taken off, while its energy transition to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) was being implemented as a cheaper alternative to petrol.

He added that the plan to take social interventions to 15 million households was delayed only because of the ongoing restructuring of the agencies responsible for implementing the measures.

On his part, Sen. Musa said the National Assembly was closely monitoring the policies introduced by the administration, noting that lawmakers held the view that with time, the country would stabilise.

According to him, economic indicators suggest that the country’s economy “is doing well.”

He explained, “You can see the indicators are showing that the economy is doing well. The only thing is that things are a bit difficult because it’s not easy for inflation that has gone up to go down like that. It takes time.

“There are some indices, there are some indicators that have to work together. It’s not like having positive and negative cables. When you put the two together, you will achieve what you want to achieve.

“But when you say, okay, everything should go negative, it will not work. So we have had negativities in the economy. And now we are trying to bring the positives to work,” he added..

The meeting later went into closed doors. (Nigerian Tribune)

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