A combined photograph of President Bola Tinubu and Mallam Mele Kyari
The successful turnaround of the old and moribund Portharcourt refinery by the administration of President Bola Tinubu is worthy of credit for two reasons.
For years, the refinery lay in ruin in the lives of four administrations from Obasanjo to Buhari, yet in less than two years into his administration, Tinubu was able to bring the turnaround into 80 percent.
Second, the Tinubu government was able to break the will of the cabals who were against the resuscitation of the refinery for selfish reasons.
Though, it’s understood that
the Conversion Units of the Refinery of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) which are responsible for high-value products such as jet fuel and gasoline are not functional, despite the claims by the NNPCL Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari that the facility was back and running, we should still commend Kyari for the success so far recorded.
NATIONAL WAVES implore the Tinubu government and NŃPCL under Mele Kyari to go the whole hog to complete the turnaround, and concentrate attention on the turnaround of the other refineries in Warri, Kaduna effective service delivery.
These refineries have capacity to deliver and complement the Dangote Refinery for massive refining of our crude since local refining has the added advantage of saving Nigeria from Dollars induced foreign exchange problem with its toll on inflation in the country.
We recognize that a lot of criticism has gone out against the untidy nature of NŃPCL’s handling of the refinery especially the huge funds that have run into billions spent on its resuscitation without appreciable result to show. But the latest development has finally shown that all hope is not lost.
Only last week, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) added its voice to the controversy surrounding the functionality of the 60,000 bpd old Port Harcourt refinery, confirming that the facility is functional, but currently lacks the reformer unit critical to production of petrol.
Speaking on Arise Television, President of PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo, said the refinery had indeed commenced operation in full, but admitted that it is currently blending petrol, which he said is not peculiar to Nigeria.
Osifo, however, said that the absence of a reformer unit, may have made the NNPCL to resort to blending of products.
Our checks showed that Catalytic Reforming Unit (CRU), is a key part of a refinery that produces gasoline or petrol and can produce up to 37 per cent of a refinery’s fuel.
However, it was learnt that the downside is that the CRU can be very expensive, sometimes costing as much as the combined cost of installing two or three refinery trains.
Stressing that no refinery can produce with a single Crude Distillation Unit (CDU), Osifo said Nigerians have every reason to doubt and question government pronouncements, considering that they had been betrayed several times.
“Nigerians have every reason to doubt the government. We have every reason to question assertions from governments, because over the years, they have actually let us down.
“Really, from our checks, the Port Harcourt refinery is actually working. But let me explain this. In petroleum products production, you take the crude and you pass the crude into what they call the CDU (Crude Distillation Unit).
Tinubu and Kyari deserve commendation and encouragement.
