Despite spending $897 million on revamping Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries, the system remains non-functional, leaving the citizens to bear its cost.
Energy expert and co-founder of Dairy Hills, Kelvin Emmanuel, said in an exclusive interview that the commissioned Port Harcourt refinery, along with other refineries, was just a charade and can never come back to operation.
During the interview, the expert revealed that he is not surprised about the total alleged shutdown, beaming at its fact from the reoccurring shutdown experience across the refineries.
“On the 12th of August 2021, the federal council approved memos for money raised for the three refineries. For Port Harcourt, $1.48 billion was approved; for Warri, $897 billion; and then for Kaduna, they approved $586 billion. A total of $2.96 billion for turnaround maintenance. Money that can build a brand new 60,000-barrel refinery, ” he said.
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“The last of these three refineries was completed in 1989 by Shell British Petroleum and also started a chunk of it.
In addition, he said, “So most of these refineries were actually built as very sizeable modules to produce FPLO and AGO to power operators upstream. So they were not built to actually refine.
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“Quite a number of them. Port Harcourt and Warri do not have a catalytic reforming unit that can convert NAFTA.
“NAFTA is a base compound; the first stage of refinery from crude oil is NAFTA. NAFTA is used for reforming units to process into higher distillates like Premium Motor Spirit (petrol).
He further asserted that “Warri has 12,500 barrels and 110,000 barrels. They don’t have a catalytic reforming unit.”
While explaining how the system operates, he further described the refineries as “anomalies”, as they were badging C5 resins and blending them with NAFTA condensate to produce petrol that contains a high sulphur and low octane, which is below the standard of the petroleum industry act in section 31711 of the PIA.
In January 2025, before the Port Harcourt refineries were shut down, NNPC reported that it was evacuating 37.9%, and in Warri, between November and January, it evacuated petrol.
He questioned the data reported, stating that the 46-kilometre truckline terminal from Escravo expected to supply Warri was out of service, doubting how the supply of crude oil was possible, citing transparency in Dangote refinery.
He asked, “For Warri, where is the truck line from Escavo that is supposed to take crude oil to the refinery?”
