By Disun Amosun
The ongoing total overhaul of the Port Harcourt Refinery Company was awarded by the NNPC to Technimont Nig Ltd at a cost of $1.55m and work is progressing satisfactorily on it, with refining at full installed capacity at the facility expected after resumption of refining activities there.
NNPC Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari offered this information yesterday in response to question posed at the resumed Investigative Hearing conducted by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on ascertaining the true State of Nigeria’s refineries and the cost expended so far on their Turn Around Maintenance TAM.
Kyari in his presentation to the Committee at the Hearing alluded to the fact that the three major refineries : the Port Harcourt Refinery Company PRC, Warri Petrochemical company WPC and the Kaduna Petrochemical Company, have been mismanaged over the years, resulting in the shut-down of those that are so deteriorated that are not worth keeping functional.
“Parts of the three main refineries running at a loss were shut down and the necessary process commenced for their turn around maintenance with the best contractors searched for to handle the TAM”
Kyari described the Turn Around Maintenance of the Refineries as a patient operation that needs to be progressed through unhurriedly if the expected optimum output is to be achieved.
Accompanied to the Hearing by the Refinery Heads of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna facilities, the NNPC boss assured Nigerians in general that with the restructured status of the Corporation into a commercial oil company of the Nigerian State, owned by the people, the Company is answerable to all and has no motive whatsoever to hide any information regarding its operation from members of the public.
He then asked for time to go into the NNPC records so as to provide all the information, data and details demanded by the Committee that will assist it in achieving its mandate.
The Committee moved and adopted a motion demanding specifically for documents on survey reports on the refineries’ rehabilitation by contractors that bidded for the job, Contract details, Waiver Approvals and Commercial Evaluation Reports on the facilities, in view of such documents importance to zeroing-in on a competent contractor for the TAM.
Earlier, Committee Chairman, Rep Ganiyu Johnson had demanded explanations from the NNPC boss on why he and his lieutenants have continually ignored the Committee’s invitation to appear before it on the state of the country’s refineries.
He then gave the GMD till Friday, 13th May, 2022 to submit all documents demanded by the Committee for members’ perusal pending when Mele Kyari will appear early next week to speak to the documents before the Committee.
