…Achieves Flare Start-Up Of Refinery’s Area 5 Plant
….Dangote Refinery Gets Second 1m Barrels Of Crude
ABUJA – The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd. has fulfilled its pledge of achieving the mechanical completion of rehabilitation work on Area 5 Plant of the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC).
Rehabilitation work has been ongoing at the refinery for over two years and the NNPC Ltd. had pledged to complete phase one of the project (mechanical completion and flare start-up) of Old Port Harcourt Refinery (Area 5) by December 31, 2023.
Speaking during an inspection tour of the rehabilitation project, which also coincided with the 15th Refineries’ Rehabilitation Steering Committee Meeting, the Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Ltd., Mr. Mele Kyari, said as of December 15, 2023, 84.4% of Area 5 Plant, a key component of the refinery, and 77.4% of the entire rehabilitation project have been completed.
“In our quest to ensure that this refinery is re-streamed to continue to deliver value to Nigerians, we made a promise that we will reach a mechanical completion of phase one of the rehabilitation project by the end of December and get the other plants running in 2024. Today, we have kept those commitments,” Kyari stated.
The GCEO commended the NNPC Ltd.’s staff and the EPCIC contractors for doing a great job in ensuring that the refinery achieved that significant milestone.
In his remarks, the Chairman of NNPC Ltd Board, Chief Pius Akinyelure, described the milestone as “historic”, stressing that the board was proud of the staff and management of the refinery. “We are just starting.
We want to be at the highest level of production so that we will keep the prices of petroleum prices in the country stable in order to give comfort to our people and generate more revenue for our country,” Akinyelure noted.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, said the milestone is another landmark of the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He thanked Nigerians for their patience and the trust they have in NNPC Ltd.’s ability to deliver on this huge project.
In his address, the Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas), Rt. Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, said re-streaming the refinery will herald a good omen for the nation’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) industry, as LPG, also known as cooking gas, is a major by-product of the refinery.
Also speaking, the Managing Director of Tecnimont Nig. Ltd., Fabio Del Cioppo, one of the EPC Contractors of the rehabilitation project, said his company remains committed to fulfilling the terms of the contract.
The PHRC rehabilitation project, which costs about $1.5 billion, is an EPCIC project that covers engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning phases.
For Area 5, the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation have all been completed.
The mechanical completion signifies the closure of the construction and installation phases.
More importantly, the milestone was achieved under an excellent health, safety and environment (HSE) record, which stood at over 9.5 million man-hours with zero loss time injury (LTI).
Dangote Refinery Receives Second One Million Barrels Of Crude
Meanwhile, Dangote Refinery has made a further move towards the commencement of production of refined petroleum products with the receipt of an additional one million barrels of Bonny light crude supplied by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).
The fresh one million barrels of crude from the Shell terminal via the MT Otis owned by Trafigural is the second consignment to be delivered to the Dangote facility out of the six million barrels of crude being expected by the world’s largest single-train refinery.
About a week ago, Dangote Refinery received one million barrels of Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO), one of the largest trading companies in Nigeria as well as globally, trading over 8 million barrels of crude oil per day.
Managing Director of Dangote Ports Operations, Mr. Akin Omole, told newsmen at the Dangote Quay, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, that the refinery is expecting more crudes before the end of this year to put the refinery in good stead to commence operation.
The one million barrels represent the second phase of the 6 million barrels of crude oil to be supplied to Dangote Petroleum Refinery by a range of suppliers for the production of petroleum products.
Once the 6 million barrels are fully delivered, it will facilitate the initial run of the refinery as well as kick-start the production of diesel, aviation fuel, and LPG before subsequently progressing to the production of premium motor spirit (PMS).
This latest development will play a pivotal role in alleviating the fuel supply challenges faced by Nigeria as well as the West African countries.
Designed for 100% Nigerian crude with the flexibility to process other crudes, the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery can process most African crude grades as well as Middle Eastern Arab Light and even US Light tight oil as well as crude from other countries.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery can meet 100% of Nigeria’s requirement of all refined products, gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and aviation jet, and also have surplus of each of these products for export.
The refinery was built to take crude through its two SPMs located 25 kilometres from the shore and to discharge petroleum products through three separate SPMs.
In addition, the refinery has the capacity to load 2,900 trucks a day at its truck loading gantries.
Dangote Refinery has a self-sufficient marine facility with the ability to handle the largest vessel globally available. In addition, all products from the refinery will conform to Euro V specifications.
The refinery is designed to comply with US EPA, European emission norms, and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) emission/effluent norms as well as African Refiners and Distribution Association (ARDA) standards.
While receiving the first consignment, President of Dangote Group, Mr. Aliko Dangote, had stated: “We are delighted to have reached this significant milestone.
This is an important achievement for our country as it demonstrates our ability to develop and deliver large capital projects.
Our focus over the coming months is to ramp up the refinery to its full capacity. I look forward to the next significant milestone when we deliver the first batch of products to the Nigerian market.”
Also the Country Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, had said: “We welcome the startup of a refinery that is designed to produce gasoline, diesel, and low-sulphur fuels for Nigeria and across West Africa and are happy to be enabling it.”
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