Host Community Accuses NNPC of Misleading Claims on PH Refinery

The Secretary of Alesa Community Stakeholders, Timothy Mgbere has raised concerns over the alleged underperformance of the newly rehabilitated Port-Harcourt Refinery, claiming that the petroleum products loaded from the facility were not freshly refined, but rather products that had been stored in tanks for the past three years

Mgbere, who made these allegations during a TV interview, stated that despite claims by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that 200 trucks of refined products would be dispatched daily, only six trucks were loaded on Tuesday, raising concerns about the refinery’s operational capacity.

Alesa, one of the major communities in Eleme, Rivers State, is the host community for the Port-Harcourt Refinery. The refinery, with a 60,000-barrel daily capacity, resumed operations on Tuesday after several years of inactivity. The refinery’s rehabilitation had been hailed as a significant step toward boosting Nigeria’s local refining capacity.

The NNPC had previously stated that the refinery, which was upgraded with modern equipment, is currently operating at 70% of its installed capacity. The corporation also outlined a daily output of 1.5 million litres of diesel, 2.1 million litres of low-pour fuel oil, 1.4 million litres of naphtha blended into petrol, 900,000 litres of kerosene, and an expected 200 trucks of petrol for distribution to the Nigerian market.

However, Mgbere was critical of the refinery’s operations, describing the ceremony to mark its reopening as a “party” and claiming that many of the refinery’s units were still not fully functional. He stated that the refinery and the Port-Harcourt depot are vital to the economic well-being of the Alesa community, which relies heavily on the economic activities generated by these operations.