The Federal Government hinted on Thursday that barring any hitch in the ongoing rehabilitation works on the Port Harcourt refinery, the project will be completed by December this year and the refinery will resume full production.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, disclosed this to State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Apart from the December targeted deadline for the completion of the rehabilitation works on the the 60,000 barrels-per-day capacity Port Harcourt refinery, the minister also said that repair works were also in progress at the Warri and Kaduna refineries just as the development of the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) project is on course.
He said: “The rehabilitation of the refineries is ongoing. As we said earlier, the old refinery in Port Harcourt, which is about 60,000 barrels per day capacity will be functional by December and, of course, we still have some time in the contracting time to conclude the rest of the Port Harcourt refinery.
“Works in the Kaduna and Warri refineries are also progressing very well. We will soon be embarking on an inspection visit to ascertain what the extent of work is,” Sylva, a former Bayelsa Governor, said.
Clarifying further on why the government has not removed petrol subsidy, the minister linked the development of the CNG development to why fuel subsidy had not been removed, saying that “that is part of the promises we made, part of the things we want to put in place before the removal of subsidy.
“Subsidy has still not been removed because some of these conditions that were agreed upon have not been met. We are definitely working assiduously to ensure that all the facilities are in place, the pumping stations and the conversion kits.
“I can assure you that work is going on very much in that regard. We may not be in a position to announce exactly what we are doing now or where we are, but I can assure you that work is very much ongoing”, Sylva added.
