NNPC Ltd Disclaims ‘Community Person’ Assertions On State Of PH Refinery
…Says, claims are crass display of ignorance
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) on Friday, November 29, 2024, said that the Old and New Port Harcourt Refineries have since been integrated with one single terminal for products load-out.
It further explained that the two refineries now share common utilities like power and storage tanks, adding that this means that storage tanks and loading gantry which hitherto belonged to the New Port-Harcourt Refinery can also receive products from the Old Port Harcourt Refinery.
The NNPC Ltd which stated these while debunking claims by one Timothy Mgbere, who claimed to be a “community person” and alleged that the much publicised restreaming of the Port Harcourt and truck-out of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) which held earlier in the week were all false.
The NNPC Ltd in a statement by Femi Soneye, Chief Corporate Communications Officer, said that Mgbere betrayed his scant knowledge of the operations of the refinery by alleging that the Old Port Harcourt Refinery was only operating skeletally and was not processing PMS, adding that Mgbere said that his proof was that the PMS truck-out was done at the gantry of the New Port Harcourt Refinery as against the gantry of the Old Port Harcourt Refinery.
In the words of Soneye; “The same person who claimed that the Old Port Harcourt Refinery has its own separate loading gantry from that of the New Port Harcourt Refinery further went on to contradict himself by saying that the PMS that was loaded out from the supposed loading gantry of the New Port Harcourt Refinery was “old stock” from the Old Port Harcourt Refinery.
“So, how did the purported “old stock” move from the Old Port Harcourt Refinery to the loading gantry of the New Port Harcourt Refinery?
“Going by the flawed argument of the so-called ‘community person’, “old PMS stock” from the Old Port Harcourt Refinery can be moved to the loading gantry of the New Port-Harcourt Refinery for show, but newly produced PMS from the Old Port-Harcourt Refinery can only be loaded at its own dedicated gantry. This is nothing but ignorance on full display!
“There are a number of other wild claims made by the man, one of which was that the refinery was producing 1.4million barrels per day.
“The nameplate capacity of the refinery is 60,000barrels of oil per day. It is currently producing at 90 per cent throughput which translates to Straight-Run Gasoline (Naptha) blended into 1.4million litres of PMS, aside other products like diesel and kerosene.
“We would have not bothered to reply him considering that all his assertions were a crass display of ignorance which is consistent with his claim of being a ‘community person’ who does not necessarily have any knowledge about the workings of the Port Harcourt Refinery,” Soneye said.
The NNPC Ltd therefore called on members of the public to disregard the claims of the self-acclaimed ‘community person’ which are obviously borne out of sheer mischief and blatant display of ignorance.
