The government of Nigeria is set to begin construction of four oil refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna in January 2020.
The rehabilitation of refineries is being undertaken by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). It will ensure the refineries achieve optimum refining capacity by 2022. The aim of repairing the refineries is to restore the country’s refining capacity.
The four refineries have a combined capacity to refine 4,45,000 barrels per day of crude oil. The first refinery in Port Harcourt was commissioned in 1965 to process 60,000 barrels of oil per stream day, and the second plant commissioned in 1989, which has a capacity of 1,50,000 barrels of oil per stream day. Both refineries have a combined capacity of 2,10,000 barrels per stream day.
Both refineries had the last Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) in 2000. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between 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 Phase-I, the Port Harcourt refinery is projected to reach 60 percent capacity utilisation, increasing to a minimum of 90 percent. The decision to construct the third NNPC refinery in Kaduna was taken in 1974 along with that of the second NNPC refinery located at Warri.