The production capacity of Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (KPRC) has been increased to 60 per cent after recent repairs, the Managing Director, Engr. Saidu Mohammed, has said.

He spoke of efforts to push production capacity to between 80 to 90 per cent before the second quarter of 2016.

According to Engr. Mohammed, a second phase of the rehabilitation exercise, which is ongoing in the plant, has been completed.

He said yesterday in Kaduna: “We have carried out overhaul of all major compressors in the plant. Others are awaiting the arrival of some spare parts, but they are all in order to increase the capacity.

“Today, we can confidently run 60 per cent. But we have to improve the reliability of the plant. We will first of all consolidate on what we have done.”

Engr. Mohammed said that the company had put together a plan for a four-phase rehabilitation of the plant which had started.

He said: “So far we have concluded the first two Phases and we are about to embark on the third one.

“Very soon, once we shut down again, we will use that window to carry out phase-three of the rehabilitation.

“Gradually that will bring us back to the state we want by the second quarter of 2016. We should be able to have this plant reliably operating at 80 to 90 per cent minimum and that is what it has been designed for.”

At 60 per cent production capacity, the plant is producing about 1.6 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit daily.

Channels Television’s energy correspondent, Olu Philips, said trucks were seen within the refinery loading.

The Kaduna refinery is a three-in-one plant operation – The fuel plant, which refines Nigerian crude, the Loops Plant which refines imported crude and the alkaline basin plant.

•Adapted from a Channels TV report. Photo shows Kaduna Refinery.