Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced plans by the corporation to commence repair works on its three refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna by January of 2020.
In a statement signed by the Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, Malam Mele Kyari made the announcement during a facilities tour of the Port-Harcourt Refining and Petrochemical Company (PHRC).
Kyari explained that the full rehabilitation of the plants would commence in January of 2020, and that he was committed to ensuring that the refineries deliver real time value and address the petroleum needs of Nigerians with optimum capacity by 2022.
He said making the refineries to operate at optimal capacities was a mandate that NNPC as a corporation would leave no stone unturned to actualize and added that a timely delivery of the asset was a priority.
“We will stick to time; we will deliver this project by 2022. We will commence actual rehabilitation work in January. We will do everything possible between October and December to close out all necessary conditions for us to deliver on that project. I believe that with the support that we have from the shareholders – government of this country, the entire staff of this company and the contractors, I believe it is doable and we will deliver the project.”
Kyari tasked the contractors on the need to consider their reputation as the most critical element in business processes and engagements. According to him, it is no longer about business now, but a reputational issue.
“For the original builders of the refinery, Tecnimont, Eni/NAOC and NNPC, let us be conscious of the fact that our reputation is at stake as far as this project is concerned”, he added. He noted that the NNPC leadership “has promised this country that our refineries will work, therefore, we must work not to disappoint over 200 million Nigerian stakeholders.”
He also tasked the management of PHRC to ensure that indigenous engineers and other professionals working in the refinery would be fully engaged to participate actively during the rehabilitation exercise.
He said the involvement of indigenous workers would help build their capacities, save cost and introduce an era of steady and uninterrupted production curve that would grow the oil and gas industry of Nigeria.
