From Blessing Ibunge, Port Harcourt
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its partners have kicked-off the commencement of rehabilitation works at the Port Harcourt Refinery, in Rivers State.
The $1.5million project which was signed into contract on April 6, 2021 commenced on Thursday, at the Refinery in Eleme, following technical meeting with stakeholders involved in the project process.
Speaking with newsmen at the break of the meeting, Engr Ahmed Dikko, Managing Director, Port Harcourt Refining Company, disclosed that if completed at the phase, the refinery will be producing about 11.5million litres of products on daily basis and which he said would satisfy the environmental demands and beyond.
Dikko also noted the involvement of host communities in the product, stressing that all arrangements have been made for a smooth and successful product delivery.
He said: “We have fully commenced with the project with the stakeholders meeting. We don’t just want the contractor to provide employment but that they should participate in the project, hence the meeting.
“We will partner together with the contractor, satisfy these communities engagement in the way that we will have a peaceful project completed. We have already done so many activities, we have had town hall meetings with the communities, we have gone to visit the Local Government chairmen, the kings of the various communities, all in a manner to have soft landing, manage expectations and make sure everybody involved works do we can deliver the product.
“When the project is completed we will have a lot of products use in Nigeria produced in this Refinery and is close to 11.5million litres chunks out from this facility, that is enough to satisfy this environment and beyond”.
Also speaking, Mustapha Yakubu, Chief Operating Officer, Refineries, disclosed that the project is scheduled in three strata, adding that the 1st phase will last for about 24months.
He also said that the project will create a lot of job opportunities especially as it affects the host communities.
“The schedule is in three stratas for 24 months which is for the old Port Harcourt Refinery and we begin to run the Refinery while other works will start at the new refinery and which will last for a maximum of 44 months.
“Today is a technical takeoff meeting and what that means is that it signifies the start of the project. Starting from today we will be having progress report. The idea is to have team alignment about the project objective and project scopes; to also have understanding on the stakeholders expectations.
“This job is going to create alot of opportunities for our local communities and as at kick we are going have about 3000 personnel working here and out of that number the expectation is that the number of expatriate should be about 70% and when you put 70 over 3000 you are talking about 45%.
“By our project schedule, the project will be in three phases because we have the old refinery here with 60, 000 (sixty thousand) capacity and then the bigger one is 120, 000. So is segmented into three phases. We have started and approximately it will last up to 44months,” Yakubu added.
