Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, on Friday, announced that the Port Harcourt Refinery Company would begin operations in December this year.
He disclosed this while inspecting the rehabilitation exercise at the Port Harcourt Refining Company plant in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, according to a statement issued in Abuja by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
The minister, who was accompanied by the Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said based on the level of progress recorded at the project, the plant would come back on stream by December.
“Our objective in coming here today is to ensure that in the next few years, Nigeria stops fuel importation. From what we have seen here today, Port Harcourt Refinery will come on board by the end of the year.
“Warri will come on stream by the end of the first quarter of next year, and Kaduna will also come on board towards the end of next year. If you add that to the Dangote Refinery, we will be able to stop fuel importation, and Nigerians will enjoy the full benefits of deregulation,” Lokpobiri said.
The minister said he was satisfied with the ongoing rehabilitation work at the Port Harcourt refinery, noting that once all the refineries were back on stream, Nigerians would enjoy a better supply of petroleum products and foreign exchange would be domesticated.
