The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is not trucking out Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, from the Port Harcourt Refinery as it claimed on Tuesday, top sources in the know have revealed to SaharaReporters.
It was gathered that the NNPCL instead bought “Cracked C5 petroleum resins” and blended it with other products including Naphtha to sell to the Nigerian public as though the refinery processed it.
Top sources familiar with the activities of the company and the state of the refinery told newsmen that the claim of trucking out PMS from the reopened refinery was a lie.
The sources had earlier said, “The plant is running but it is the old one of 60,000bpd capacity but you can’t get PMS from it except diesel. The part that produces PMS is yet to start.”
Speaking further with newsmen, a top source in the refinery said, “If you hear they are trucking out PMS from the depot, know it is a lie. They bought Crack C5 from Indorama company in Port Harcourt and blended it with Naphtha to sell to the public.”
The source added, “Cracked 5 is modified petroleum resins.”
Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited (IEPL) is a Group Company of Indorama Corporation, a Poly-Olefins producer based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Meanwhile, Naphtha can be produced from a variety of sources, including: crude oil, natural-gas condensates, petroleum distillates, coal tar, and peat.
The NNPCL on Tuesday in a statement, backed by some videos of NNPCL branded trucks, had announced that the Port Harcourt Refinery had become operational and that it had started trucking out PMS from the refinery.
However, it was reliably learnt that the company only bought Cracked C5 petroleum resins from Indorama and blended it with other products including Naphtha to sell to Nigerians.
It was earlier reported that the NNPCL claimed that it had fulfilled its pledge of re-streaming the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), signalling the commencement of crude oil processing from the plant and delivery of petroleum products into the market.
On Tuesday, the company had claimed that trucks began loading petroleum products which include PMS, Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) or diesel and Household Kerosene (HHK) or Kerosene, while other product slates will be dispatched as well.
Speaking during a brief ceremony to mark the commencement of products loading at the Refinery on Tuesday in Port Harcourt, the Group CEO, Mr. Mele Kyari, described the commencement of the loadout activities as a monumental achievement for Nigeria which signifies a new era of energy independence and economic growth for the country.
It was reported that the Port Harcourt Refinery celebrated by the NNPCL as working is the old refinery built in 1965 which could only produce diesel and is of 60,000 barrels’ capacity.
“The refinery is in two parts. The old refinery built 1965 of 60, 000 barrel’s capacity which when commissioned will only give you 1million litres of PMS. You have the new refinery built 1989 which is of 150,000 barrels per stream day.
“If commissioned, it will give you 10 million litres of PMS. As of today, when they say Port Harcourt refinery is coming on stream, they are referring to the old one which we were battling with for months,” another top source had revealed.
“The new one is far from ready. We are looking at 2026 for the new one to be ready. If we finally commission the old one, it will be insignificant because Nigeria will not feel the impact,” the source noted.
Tuesday’s move by the NNPC had come after a series of failed deadlines for the commencement of production at the refinery in Nigeria’s oil-rich Rivers State.
