The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has announced September 2024 as new date for the commencement of oil production at the Port Harcourt Refinery.

The Chief Financial Officer of NNPCL, Umar Ajiya disclosed this on Monday while speaking with journalists in Abuja.

According to him, petroleum products are ready for testing at the refinery before being supplied to the domestic market in September.

The September date is the fourth announced by the NNPCL, but which had failed to materialise.

In July, Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, had announced that the refinery, with a combined capacity of 250 barrels per day, was to commence operation in August.

Before then, the NNPCL had announced March and July 2024 dates for the commencement of production after the completion of the refinery’s turnaround maintenance in December 2023.

The old and new Port Harcourt Refinery have the combined capacity of processing 210,000 barrels per day.