The federal government says re-streaming the Port Harcourt refinery will increase the supply of liquefied petroleum gas (cooking gas) and automatically halt importation.

The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said this on Thursday during an inspection of facilities at the Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd.

The inspection coincided with the 15th Refineries’ Rehabilitation Steering Committee Meeting held in Port Harcourt, Rivers.

The PHRC rehabilitation project, which cost the government about $1.5 billion, is an Engineering Procurement Construction Installation and Commission (EPCIC) project in phases.

The rehabilitation has been ongoing since 2021, and the NNPCL pledged to complete phase one of the project (mechanical completion and flare start-up) of the old Port Harcourt refinery at the end of 2023.

On December 20, the NNPCL fulfilled its promise by achieving the mechanical completion and flare start-up of the refinery’s Area 5 plant.

Speaking during the tour, Mr Ekpo said the mechanical completion and flare start-off would be equally cheering news to LPG users because, after Christmas, there would be a sufficient supply of LPG, a major byproduct of the refinery.

“I know the joy that is in the hearts of Nigerians with the coming up on stream of phase one of the refinery, and I believe others will be completed on schedule,” Mr Ekpo said.

NNPC boss Mele Kyari said 84.4 per cent of Area 5 Plant, a key refinery component, and 77.4 per cent of the entire rehabilitation project had been completed as of December 15.

“In our quest to ensure that this refinery is re-streamed to continue to deliver value to Nigerians, we promised to 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,” Mr Kyari said.

He commended the staff of NNPCL and the EPCIC contractors for their efforts and thanked Nigerians for their patience and trust in the company to deliver on the huge project.

Mr Kyari added, “More importantly, the milestone was achieved under an excellent health, safety and environment record, which stood at over 9.5 million man-hours with zero Loss Time Injury (LTI).”

(NAN)