Port Harcourt Refinery halts operations again as drivers sleep in trucks

Less than a month after the Port Harcourt Refining Company appeared to resume production, operations at the facility have come to a standstill.

A visit to the refinery on Thursday, December 19, 2024, revealed that the lifting of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) had ceased entirely.

Observations showed that the 18-arm loading bay of the refinery was empty, with no products being loaded since Friday, December 13.

Tanker trucks lined the stretch of road leading to the refinery, with about 18 trucks idling outside and nine others parked in the yard. However, the usually bustling depot was eerily quiet, lacking the usual activity associated with fuel loading operations.

The refinery, which has a production capacity of 60,000 barrels per day, was inaugurated with much fanfare on November 26, 2024, by the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mele Kyari.

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This followed a $1.5 billion rehabilitation project approved in March 2021. During the reopening, a limited number of trucks were seen lifting petrol, sparking excitement among stakeholders.

However, reports now suggest that less than 10 trucks carried fuel during the ceremony, contrary to claims that about 200 trucks were loaded. Allegations have since surfaced that the petrol lifted on inauguration day was old stock from storage tanks rather than newly refined products.

Three weeks ago, it was reported that the facility’s loading bay was deserted. At the time, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria explained that operations were paused to calibrate meters and empty old stock. Subsequently, the refinery resumed limited operations, with its Managing Director, Ibrahim Onoja, taking journalists on a tour of the facility.

“The plant is running, and we are trucking out our products,” Onoja said during the tour. “We have carried out an extensive revamp of this plant and changed most of the equipment. The pump and instrumentation, the cables are all brand new. So what we have done here is a massive change and upgrade of the plant.”

Despite this, production and loading have again stalled. When a team revisited the refinery on Thursday, a week after operations ceased, truck drivers were seen sleeping in their vehicles, waiting for updates. One driver said he was informed that loading would resume the following Monday but expressed skepticism.

“Three days; they said they would load on Monday,” he said, counting with his fingers.

Another driver confirmed that no loading had taken place since Friday of the previous week, when about 15 trucks were filled. “Nobody is giving us any information or telling us anything. Some trucks that were here have left. I’m just here because my director said I should wait a bit,” he added.

Petroleum marketer Mr. Dappa Jubobaraye criticized the situation, alleging that the inauguration was a facade.

“It was intended to deceive Nigerians that the refinery is working,” he said. “That day, only about four or five trucks loaded products. Of the 18 loading arms at the bay, only three are working, and they have leakages.”

Jubobaraye added that independent marketers had not been able to load products due to unresolved pricing issues with the NNPC. “The situation right now is that loading of PMS is not taking place because they don’t have the intention to make this place work. It is just to deceive the people,” he said.

Efforts to reach NNPC spokesperson Femi Soneye for comments were unsuccessful, as he neither answered calls nor responded to messages at the time of reporting.

(PUNCH)