Hope rises for the production and supply of petroleum products from the 210,000 barrels per day capacity Port Harcourt Refining Company, (PHRC), Eleme latest by ending of February 2024, as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) successfully scaled the first challenge in the rehabilitation process at the plant by achieving the mechanical completion milestone on Wednesday.
The completion of the phase was marked by lighting the flare start-up of the refinery’s Area 5 Plant to signify its readiness to commence full normal operations when the final test run formalities were completed.
Mechanical completion explained
Mechanical completion is the conclusion of the processes to repairs of the mechanical components of the different units of the refinery by changing the old and obsolete parts and replacing them with brand new ones from the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
In an EPCIC project like the rehabilitation of the refineries announced in March 2021, which involved engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning processes, mechanical completion signifies the closure of the procurement, construction and installation phases of the contract.
Under the refineries rehabilitation agenda the NNPC had invited Tecnimont SPA of Italy, the original builders of the refinery, and awarded it a $1.5billion contract for it to handle the rehabilitation and repairs of the Port Harcourt refinery, whose mechanical components were neglected for over three decades by succesive administrations in the country.
Minister hails milestone
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, announced on Thursday during his inspection visit to the plant that the NNPC and its EPCIC contractor, Tecnimont Nigeria Limited, successfully achieved the mechanical completion milestone, which would allow them to move to the next phase of the rehabilitation process.
The next phase of the process, he said, would involve the test running of the newly constructed and installed mechanical components, including several kilometres of pipelines, thousands of pumps, valves and other newly installed parts, to confirm they were well calibrated to work together without leakages or infiltration with air.
Not yet uhuruThe Managing Director of Port Harcourt Refinery Limited, Ibrahim Onoja, said it would be after the completion of the test run and certification of the parts to comfirm they were in perfect working condition the final commissioning of the plant to begin the refining of petroleum products.
Lokpobiri described the achievement of mechanical completion at the plant as a major milestone worthy of celebration, as it was the fulfilment of the pledge by the government to get the refinery working again by the end of 2023.
The Minister was accompanied on the visit by the Group Chief Executive of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), Mele Kyari; the Chairman of the NNPC Board, Pius Akinyelure, and other members of the
Refineries Rehabilitation Steering Committee, which coincidentally held their 15th meeting during the visit.
“We want to thank and congratulate all Nigerians for the patience and the trust in the NNPC to deliver on the mandate to rehabilitate the refineries. We assure you that the commencement of operations at the Port Harcourt Refinery will guarantee stability in the supply of petroleum products in the country. We are committed to deliver the rehabilitation of all the other refineries as scheduled,” the Minister said.
He said the visit to assess the ongoing rehabilitation of the refinery originally scheduled for last September was rescheduled a coupled times as a result of other pressing official engagements, adding that now that the first phase has been completed, the other phases would proceed and completed maximum before the last quarter of 2024, to give value back to Nigerians.
Expert sets February 2024 production deadline
However, those familiar with the rehabilitation process told our reporter in Port Harcourt that the achievement of the mechanical completion phase does not translate to an expectation for an immediate commencement of production of petroleum products from the refurbished refinery.
“The achievement of the mechanical completion milestone does mean Nigerians should expect refined petroleum products to begin to flow out of the refinery tomorrow. What it means is that the mechanical components of the refinery, which constitute the bulk of the entire refining operations at the refinery, have now been fully fixed with new parts from the OEMs.
“What is left to be done for production to start is to carry out a test run of all the new installations before the formal commissioning, It is only when that process has been completed within the next three weeks and one month that crude oil could be introduced into the system to commence the refining of petroleum products,” one of the engineers explained.
“The good thing in the contract was that it was original builders of the plant that were handed the contract to procure, manufacture and import the parts they required to carry out the repairs. So, until they have carried out the integrity test run and be satisfied that the newly installed systems are working perfectly well, injection of crude oil in the production line will not commence,” the expert added.
He said the assessment of the rehabilitation team was that when the rehabilitation exercise would be completed, the 60,000 barrels per day capacity refinery would be able to refine an average of 40,000 barrels per day of crude oil at the commencement of production.
Promise kept?
In his remarks, the GCEO of NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari, described the achievement of mechanical completion as a fulfilment of a pledge he made to Nigerians to complete the Phase One of the rehabilitation of Old Port Harcourt Refinery (Area 5) by December 31, 2023.
Kyari said his management owed the success story to the commitment of the team of engineers from the NNPC and the EPCIC contractors that worked extra hard to restore operations at the refinery.
He said the NNPC was determined to proceed from the latest milestone to complete the rehabilitation of all other refineries on schedule.
As of December 15, 2023, Kyari said the rehabilitation of Area 5 Plant, a key component of the Refinery was about 84.4% completed, while the entire rehabilitation project have attained about 77.4% completion.
“In our quest to ensure that this refinery is re-streamed to continue to deliver value to Nigerians, we made a promise that we will reach a mechanical completion of Phase one of the rehabilitation project by the end of December and get the other plants running in 2024. Today, we have kept those commitments,” Kyari said.
The Chairman of the NNPC Ltd Board, Pius Akinyelure, described the milestone as a historic achievement the board was proud of, particularly the commitment of the staff and management of the refinery to restore production at the plant.
High HSE record
The Managing Director of Tecnimont Nigeria Ltd., one of the EPCIC Contractors for the Rehabilitation Project, Fabio DelCioppo, expressed his company’s continued commitment to fulflling the terms of the contract.
DelCioppo said the contractors were excited to report that the milestone was achieved under an excellent Health,Safety and Environment (HSE) record, having achieved over 9.5 million man-hours with zero Loss Time Injury (LTI).
The Port Harcourt refinery has the combined capacity of 210,000 barrels per day, consisting 60,000 barrels per day capacity from the old refinery built in 1965 and another 150,000 barrels per day capacity from the new refinery built between 1985 and 1990.
