Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) has reportedly halted crude oil processing days after its commencement of operation.
Reports indicate that the facility was eerily inactive, with no discernible signs of operation on Friday.
The report indicated that several workers at the refinery confirmed that the facility was undergoing a calibration process, which might persist till net week.
It could be recalled that the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, had last week announced the resumption of production at the refinery which was shut down for years.
The NNPCL had announced that trucks had commenced loading of petrol, diesel, and kerosene from the refinery.
A Punch Newspaper report, however, disputed the NNPCL claim, as it reported an official of the refinery as saying that what was loaded to trucks on Tuesday was actually a “dead stock.”
“Before the refinery was shut down between 2015/2016, we had dead stock left in the tank, including some Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) DPK (kerosene), and Automated Gas Oil (diesel).
“These products were in large quantities in store in those tanks. During the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery, Old Area 5, those products were evacuated from the tanks for storage,” Punch quoted the official as saying.
He explained that a large quantity of the refined petrol was “off-spec,” requiring separation from water to obtain the main product in preferred colours.
“But for DPK, it is in large quantity but they have not pushed it from the tank where it was kept after it was refined and ready for commercial purposes.
“So, the product that was loaded was dead stock, that is the old product that was in the system. So, after these dead stocks, they will have to clean the tank, remove all the debris before pumping the new project into that tank, and redye it.”
However, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPCL, Femi Soneye, had on Tuesday insisted that the refinery was operating at 60 percent capacity, processing a substantial 60,000 barrels per day.
Soneye also dismissed claims by an Alesa community leader, Timothy Mgbere, that the Port Harcourt refinery was not producing fuel.
He said, “The old and new Port Harcourt refineries have since been integrated with one single terminal for product load-out. They share common utilities like power and storage tanks. This means that storage tanks and loading gantry which he claimed belongs to the new Port-Harcourt Refinery can also receive products from the Old Port Harcourt Refinery.”
He called on the public to disregard the claims, saying they were borne out of “sheer mischief and blatant display of ignorance.”
