The Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria has said the Port Harcourt refinery will sell its petrol at N1,030 per litre, stating that the refinery is working as claimed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
In a statement on Thursday night, PETROAN spokesman, Joseph Obele, said the NNPC announced to the association that a litre of premium motor spirit goes for N1,030 at the refurbished refinery.
The PETROAN spokesman said, “NNPC Retail Ltd has officially announced the PMS price at the Port Harcourt refinery as N1,030 per litre. It was also communicated to PETROAN that the product request portal was open for booking/request.”
He added that PETROAN’s strategic pricing team is currently analysing the most favourable price for its members, saying “We are open to patronising all the refineries in Nigeria
Recall that the Dangote refinery recently announced a N20 reduction in the price of its PMS, putting it at N970 instead of N990.
Speaking on claims that the refinery was not working as claimed, Obele stated, “We state emphatically that the old Port Harcourt refinery is functional and producing refined petroleum products at the moment.
Obele noted that this is contrary to the speculations that the revamped refinery was a mere blending plant and unproductive.
“As part of PETROAN’s oversight function as key stakeholders, we have direct access to the plant on the authorisation of management and we will encourage whoever is doubting the functional status of the plant to contact NNPC management for facility tour rather than spreading misleading information.
“It is more important to state here that the functional plant in operation is the old refinery with a capacity of 60,000 barrels per day, while the new port Harcourt refinery with a capacity of 200,000 barrels per day is still under rehabilitation which is due to commence production soon as announced by the management of NNPCL. Both Refineries are within the same complex at Alesa Eleme in Rivers State,” he stated further.
Obele posited that further confirmation for the authenticity of production at the Port Harcourt refinery was verified by the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources under the leadership of Sen. Kawu Sumaila in conjunction with stakeholders and members of the host community.
He maintained that the senate committee was on a fact-finding visit to the site on Thursday to see things themselves.
“The senate committee saw the plant functional and Petroleum trucks loading at the Port Harcourt refinery depot. It is worth noting that PETROAN national leadership led by the National President Dr Billy Hary were in attendance at the senate committee visitation at the Port Harcourt refinery to welcome the committee and express PETROAN’S willingness to commence loading at the Port Harcourt refinery,” he explained.
He added that PETROAN supports the proposed planned privatization of the nation-owned refineries in no distance time in a manner that is credible and transparent, after which the plant should be handed over to a reputable private firm with the financial capability and technical knowledge.
“Most worrisome as a threat to lives and properties is the ugly condition of the Eleme East-west road. The road poses a serious threat to petroleum trucks that will be transporting flammable products from the refinery depots. PETROAN encourages the Federal Ministry of Works under which the project was awarded to RCC to facilitate the ongoing repairs of the road,” he concluded.
