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The Conversion Units of the Port-Harcourt Refinery of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) which are responsible for high-value products such as jet fuel and gasoline are not functional, despite the claims by the NNPCL Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari that the facility was back and running, SaharaReporters has gathered.
The Conversion Units comprise of the catalytic crackers, hydrocrackers, or cokers and process the heavier fractions into higher-value products like gasoline, jet fuel, or diesel, top sources in the Refinery explained to SaharaReporters on Saturday.
SaharaReporters had reported last week that the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) which is the primary component of the refinery is the only operational activity and Nigerians cannot yet get the actual values for which the Refinery was built.
“Residual fuel oil from the CDU can be upgraded into lighter, more valuable products,” the source said further.
SaharaReporters had days ago reported that the Port-Harcourt refinery shut down operation “at the moment” with only its non-petroleum unit running which is the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU).
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, had also on Wednesday challenged the NNPCL GMD, Mele Kyari, asking him to explain to Nigerians how $2.9billion meant for the smooth takeoff of the country’s three refineries was spent.
Falana had also queried why the Port-Harcourt refinery was only blending 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day, while the 150,000bpd capacity is abandoned as well as the Warri and Kaduna refineries.
The fiery human rights lawyer spoke in Lagos State at the commissioning of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Tower.
Speaking with SaharaReporters, an authoritative source at the Refinery explained that Nigerians must know that the Conversion Units which are not working yet at the Refinery are at the core of its functions and what the government ought to give attention to.
“Conversion units (like catalytic crackers, hydrocrackers, or cokers) process these heavier fractions into higher-value products like gasoline, jet fuel, or diesel. For example: Residual fuel oil from the CDU can be upgraded into lighter, more valuable products.
“This is for Nigerians to know the politics they are playing. The refinery process is not well optimised without the conversion unit. Right now they want to sell the heavier ends to a Dubai company just for them to continue running. The heavier ends should have been converted to give you more useful lighter end products which will add value to the crude,” the source revealed.
“Before the current GMD (Kyari) came in, Warri and Port-Harcourt refineries were running the CDU plant along with some conversion unit before he then said we should shut down the plant in 2019.
“His reason was that we were not adding value to the crude. What we are doing now running the Area 5 CDU is not different from what we were doing before 2019. Making noise about the CDU running does not make sense,” the source revealed further.
SaharaReporters had days ago reported that the Port-Harcourt refinery shut down operation “at the moment” with only its non-petroleum unit running which is the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU).
The CDU produces naphtha, kerosene and diesel but cannot produce the component which is needed for the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol, top sources at the refinery had disclosed to SaharaReporters.
SaharaReporters has been monitoring developments at the refinery since the NNPCL initially claimed the refinery was up and trucking out PMS to the Nigerian public.
SaharaReporters had exclusively reported that only the old section of the Port-Harcourt refinery was working and it was blending “Crack C5 with the Naphtha” and trucking it out as Premium Motor Spirit, which some staff warned would have an “effect” on vehicles.
Top sources had clarified that the NNPCL came up with the idea of blending Crack C5 with the Naphtha from the primary units because the secondary units are not ready yet.
The sources had said that though blending is a standard practice and that PMS is a blend of products, “but the blended products are reformate. Gasoline is produced from the secondary units of the process plant. These secondary units are yet to be commissioned.”
Giving an update to SaharaReporters last Saturday, a top official said only the CDU was running at the moment and could turn out only naphtha, kerosene and diesel.
“The Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) is still running but the operation of the depot is shut down at the moment. The CDU produces naphtha, diesel and Kerosene but cannot produce the component for the production of PMS,” the source had revealed.
“All these products cannot serve the masses as the production of these products are in small quantities even if the plant runs at 100% throughput. The processing plant of 150,000bpd capacity will commence operations in 2026; that is if money is made readily available to meet the timelines because at the moment the project has exceeded $2billion.”
SaharaReporters reported that NNPCL confirmed its exclusive reports that only the old Port Harcourt Refinery in Rivers State is working and that the refinery is not trucking out PMS but blended gasoline.
The NNPCL’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, in a statement had said that the old Port Harcourt Refinery is currently operating at 70% of its installed capacity, and that it produces Straight-Run Gasoline (Naphtha), blended into 1.4 million liters of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol daily.
