The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has announced that the Presidents of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Felix Osifo, have confirmed the operational status of the Old Port Harcourt Refinery following an inspection on Monday.
This disclosure was shared in a post on the official X (formerly Twitter) account of the NNPCL.
The statement revealed that Ajaero and Osifo, along with other union leaders, visited the rehabilitated refinery and verified its functionality, including the quality of its petroleum output.
“The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), led by its President, Joe Ajaero, and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria, led by President Felix Osifo, have confirmed that the Old Port Harcourt Refinery is now operational and producing high-quality petroleum products. They both led a delegation of labor union leaders and conducted an inspection of the rehabilitated facility on Monday, affirming its functionality and output standards,” the tweet read.
The confirmation of the refinery’s operations by the Presidents of the country’s labour unions comes days after the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) confirmed the resumption of production.
What you should know
On November 26, 2024, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) confirmed that the Port Harcourt Refinery had resumed production after extensive rehabilitation. At the time, NNPC stated that the facility was operating at 70% of its full capacity, with daily production of 1.5 million litres of diesel and 2.1 million litres of Pour Fuel Oil.
- Reports surfaced alleging that instead of processing crude oil, the refinery blended “Cracked C5 petroleum resins” with Naphtha to sell as processed products. NNPCL spokesperson Soneye defended the refinery, noting that blending is a standard industry practice
- Located in the Alesa community in Eleme, the refinery faced additional scrutiny when community leader Timothy Mgbere raised concerns about product quality, claiming that the petroleum products loaded from the facility were not newly refined but stored products from the past three years.
- Mgbere also pointed out that only six trucks were loaded on a given day, despite earlier statements indicating 200 trucks would be dispatched daily. Soneye responded, affirming the refinery was operating at 90% capacity and dismissing the allegations.
A week ago, the refinery’s Managing Director, Mr. Ibrahim Onoja, confirmed full operations had resumed. Despite earlier reports of a temporary halt, the Port Harcourt Refining Company clarified that operations were scaled down for improvements but not fully suspended.
