Nigerian Company NNPCL Reacts to Reports of Shut Down at Port-Harcourt Refinery, Says Upgrade is Ongoing

The management of the Port-Harcourt refinery of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPCL) has clarified reports that activities at the refinery were “shut down”.

According to the company, there has been a reduction in operations due to an ongoing upgrade of the facility.

Moyi Maidunama, Executive Director of Operations at the Nigerian Pipeline and Storage Company Limited (NPSC), emphasized that the refinery has not halted operations entirely. Instead, the reduction in operations is a necessary step to facilitate major adjustments and improvements.

“We are evacuating the refined products from the refinery, and this is obviously going to be a continuous process,” Maidunama explained. “We have done a couple of trucks today and intend to do many more today… So, the operations were not halted. It was obviously reduced due to some improvements that we needed to make.”

The terminal manager of Port-Harcourt depot, Molokwuu Joel, also confirmed that the facility has commenced the distribution of products, including premium motor spirit (petrol), kerosene, and diesel.

While the refinery’s Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) is still operational, producing naphtha, diesel, and kerosene, sources indicate that the production of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, is not possible with the current setup. The processing plant, with a capacity of 150,000bpd, is expected to commence operations in 2026, pending the availability of funds.