Chibisi Ohakah, Abuja
Nineteen years after the last Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) exercise of the nation’s premier refining plant, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has commenced the first phase of the rehabilitation of the 210,000 barrels per day capacity Port Harcourt Refinery complex that comprises of 60,000 barrels per day old Refinery built in 1965 and the 150,000 barrels per day, new Refinery, commissioned in 1989.
The project is being executed by Milan-based Maire Tecnimont S.p.A, in collaboration with its Nigerian affiliate, Tecnimont Nigeria. The Italian company is listed on Milan Stock Exchange with interest in international engineering and construction, technology and licensing, and energy business development, whereas their Nigerian counterparts, the Tecnimont Group, has operations in 40 different countries, numbering about 50 operative companies with a workforce of about 5,500 employees.
The exercise was flagged off in Port Harcourt last weekend by the Group Managing Director of the NNPC Dr Maikanti Baru, said that at the end of phase 1, the Port Harcourt Refinery complex should be able to reach 60% capacity utilization.
The NNPC is engaging Eni/NAOC as technical advisor to support the rehabilitation of PHRC, while the NNPC/PHRC would leverage Eni’s extensive refinery supply chain network and warehouses to procure critical materials for the programme.
This first phase of the rehabilitation contract, which would run for six months, will involve detailed integrity check and equipment inspection of the Port Harcourt Refinery complex beginning from the end of March 2019. The integrity test comes as a forerunner to the second phase of the rehabilitation project which entails a comprehensive revamp of the complex aimed at restoring the refinery to a minimum of 90% capacity utilization, it was gathered
Maikanti said that subject to the successful completion of the integrity checks, Phase 2 of the project would be executed on an Engineering Procurement Construction basis by Tecnimont in collaboration with the original builders of the plant, JGC of Japan.
Speaking on behalf of the contractors, Antonio Vella, Chief Officer, Upstream, Eni, said all the companies involved would deploy all available modern resources to ensure effective upgrade of the plant. Vella enthused that with the commitment of all parties involved, it was certain that NNPC would be able to celebrate the revamp of the PHRC that would lead to its full capacity utilization on schedule and in full safety.
Speaking on behalf of the workers unions, Comrade Odor Victor Ayiri, branch chairman of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) and Comrade Dibiah Joseph, chairman of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), jointly pledged the support of workers to ensure a smooth turnaround of the facility.
It will be recalled that the NNPC had to abandon its earlier funding strategy by its DSDP Term Contractors/Consortia due to onerous conditions demanded after more than twelve (12) months of negotiations. The apex oil company has adopted immediate direct funding from internal cash flows while it goes to the financial markets for debt financing. NNPC further segmented the rehabilitation, to begin with, Port Harcourt Refinery Complex and then progress to Warri and Kaduna Refinery complexes using the same methodology.
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