The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday, approved the sum of $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery.
Chief Timipre Sylva, the minister of state for petroleum disclosed this to State House Correspondents after the weekly virtual FEC meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock.
Sylva said the rehabilitation will be done in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months.
He added that the contract was awarded to an Italian company, Technimount SPA, which are experts in refinery maintenance.
The minister explained further that the funding has three components from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), budgetary allocations provisions and Afreximbank.
The Minister also assured that local content is fully involved in the job.
“The Ministry of Petroleum Resources presented a memo on the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery for the sum of 1.5 billion, and that memo was $1.5 billion and it was approved by council today.
“So we are happy to announce that the rehabilitation of productivity refinery will commence in three phases. The first phase is to be completed in 18 months, which will take the refinery to a production of 90 per cent of its nameplate capacity.
“The second phase is to be completed in 24 months and all the final stage will be completed in 44 months and consultations are approved.
“And I believe that this is good news for Nigeria,” he said.
