Nigeria is set to commence the rehabilitation of four oil refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna in January 2020. The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari revealed the report and said that the corporation is determined to ensure the refineries achieve optimum refining capacity by 2022.
“The aim of repairing the refineries is to restore the country’s refining capacity. We are doing everything possible between October and December this year to close out all necessary conditions for us to deliver on the project,”said Mele Kyari.
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Largest oil and gas producer in Africa
Nigeria is the largest oil and gas producer in Africa. Crude oil from the delta basin comes in two types: light, and comparatively heavy the lighter around 36 gravity and the heavier, 20–25 gravity. Both types are paraffinic and low in sulfur.
The four refineries have a combined capacity to refine 445,000 barrels per day of crude oil. However in the last 15–20 years had a poor operating record with average capacity utilization hovering between 15 and 25% per annum.
As a result, 70–80% of the national petroleum products demand is met through import. As at 2017, the aggregate demand of petroleum products in Nigeria was equivalent to 750,000 bpsd.
The four oil refineries
The first refinery in Port Harcourt was commissioned in 1965 to process 60,000 barrels of oil per stream day (bpsd), as well as the second plant commissioned in 1989, which has a capacity of 150,000 bpsd.
Both refineries have a combined capacity of 210,000 barrels per stream day making it the biggest oil refining company in Nigeria. They both had the last Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) in 2000. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Italian oil giant, ENI and NNPC which committed to the refurbishment of the both Port Harcourt Refineries
Rehabilitation works will be done be in two phases, with both the ENI and the original participating in the process. At the end of the first phase, the Port Harcourt refinery is projected to reach 60% capacity utilization, increasing to a minimum of 90%.
The decision to construct the third Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) refinery in Kaduna was taken in 1974 along with that of the second NNPC refinery located at Warri. the refinery was designed for a capacity of 60,000 BPSD but modified to produce 100,000 BPSD.
Kaduna proved to be a central location for distributing petroleum products to depots in the northern zone, as the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries proved for the supply of petroleum products to depots in the southern and middle belt zones.
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