Port Harcourt refinery has commenced production process, Warri 90% complete – PETROAN president

Dr. Billy Giles-Harry, President Of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), has claimed that production process has begun at the 60,000 barrel per day capacity Port-Harcourt refinery.

Giles-Harry also said the Warri refinery is 90 per cent complete.

The PETROAN president said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Saturday.

He urged the Federal government to allow the private sector involvement in the management of government-owned refineries ,so as to ensure that the refineries stay running once they all are repaired.

Giles-Harry was asked if he believes that the refineries in Nigeria will be repaired and functional, to which he replied, “Yes, I think it will happen, I have listened to some of the earlier conversations we’ve heard, and I believe we need to discourage the naysayers, we have to be positive, we have to be courageous, we have to be expectant that Nigeria will turn to be the best.”

“I had the tour of the two facilities with my team in the last few days here in Warri, and we had very in depth analysis of the situation of the refinery, and we can authoritatively say that the Nigerian government, the NNPC and the MD of the Warri refinery and his team are doing a good job. Initially, it was supposed to be a quick fix, a quick fix ordinarily it was presupposed that they will just go in, turn the refinery back, get crude in and start cracking, but that was not the case,” he said.

“A lot of technical issues, you know, crept up that has kept them working, but as at the last time we finished speaking, we went back with a satisfied smile that Warri Refinery is over 90% complete.

“And also, Port-Harcourt has been working very highly optimistically to make sure that the refinery gets started, and I can also confirm to you today that Port-Harcourt refinery is already starting production processes. Those processes simply will go through some protocols, and I believe that in the coming days, I believe not weeks, the refinery will start turning out products.”

“In Port-Harcourt, I was actually given the opportunity to see all the technical works. I guess in the last seven or eight months, I have been leading my team to check and encourage the actors to ensure that what is being expected of them by Nigerians actually materialises. We saw that the two refineries in Port- Harcourt were actually being stripped and replaced.

“So, it wasn’t just a quick fix in any way, it was, you know, pipelines were taken off, electronics, electrical components were taken off, and of course, the powering up was tested- I believe that was what was done in December. And then, testing would start, and normally, every situation must be approved by the NMDPRA. So, until that approval is got, they cannot move, and NMDPRA must be sure of exactly what they are doing.

“So, if as of today, the 60,000 barrels refinery in Port-Harcourt is already steaming, that already guarantees Nigerians that refined fuel from Port-Harcourt refinery will soon come into the market. And of course, the other bigger one, which is 120,000 barrels a day is still undergoing very urgent repairs and additional components being added to that. So, right now, we are talking just about the 60,000 barrels, and at least, if that comes on board, we should be able to have petroleum products in the country that should assuage these consistent supply glitch that we are experiencing.”

Giles-Harry then said, “We have to have a new business model for how our refineries operate. We should not leave it strictly to government, and I think that the government should work out a new business model where the private sector is directly involved. Because we, as retail outlet owners, will not in any way encourage the refineries to go down anymore. Once it’s up, we will want to make sure that it’s up. Because obviously, it’s affecting every part of the country, it’s affecting us so very terribly.”

“We encourage the government to include private sector participation, and what I mean by private sector, I’m talking about those who are in the grassroots of the business to be part of the process of making sure that we consistently do audits, we consistently make sure that the refineries are running with empirical evidence of what is needed to be done.

“After all, refineries all over the world, some of them are older than even the ones we have in Nigeria. So, we can certainly get our refineries working. And I believe that with the current situation and the effort I’m seeing the President put in on the table, the idea of running business as usual and allow miscreants and those who are not- in any way not patriotic to putting Nigeria’s business first will not be part of the show,” he added.

Speaking for PETROAN, Giles-Harry stated: “We as an association, knowing that we are the most critical last mile of the industry, have also not relented in pushing for efforts to be started so that the refineries can come on stream. Regardless of how much the percentage of work is, we want to see our local refineries roaring to life, and I believe that’s what we have today.”