Barely three days after the resumption of activities at the Port Harcourt Refining Company, the refinery has abruptly shut down operations.
It is understood that as of Friday, there was no activity on the site, with some workers claiming that the refinery was undergoing calibration, which might last till next week.
The Port Harcourt Refinery has faced numerous delays and missed deadlines to resume operations. However, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, inaugurated the new plant at the Area 5 terminal of the refinery on Tuesday.
It was claimed that 200 petrol trucks were loading daily from the plant. However, the announcement was met with scepticism as reports circulated that the trucks were loaded with old products in the storage tanks.
At the Port Harcourt Refinery Area 5, it was observed that there were no signs of activity. An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed that the loaded trucks contained “dead stock”.
He explained that the “dead stock” included Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), and Automated Gas Oil (diesel) left in the tanks before the refinery was shut down between 2015 and 2016.
The official noted that the large quantity of refined petrol was “off-spec”, requiring separation from water to obtain the main product in preferred colours.
He added that the refinery was not operating electronically, as refineries worldwide should, but rather manually, which cannot match the new digital pumps.
Meanwhile, rather than more trucks coming into the refinery, the number of trucks has dwindled. It was observed that most workers and drivers appeared idle, with no machinery operational.
When asked about the lack of loading activity, a worker in overalls said, “They are de-watering, removing the water under the PMS. Maybe there will be loading after that, but we don’t know what time today.”
Another worker at the loading bay mentioned that ongoing calibration was the reason for the delay. “They are calibrating the meters,” he said tersely.
A source indicated that calibration would continue until Monday, with the loading of DPK (kerosene) and AGO (diesel) expected to start by then.
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