DMEA: Port Harcourt faces more delays

Nigeria’s 210,00 barrel per day (bpd) Port Harcourt Refinery Complex (PHRC) has suffered a delay in recommissioning as the first phase of a project to rehabilitate the plant. Originally intended to be completed in April this year, the project has stalled is not likely to be finished for a further four months.

PHRC comprises a 60,000-bpd unit built in 1965, known as Area 5, and a newer unit built in 1989 capable of processing 150,000 bpd of crude. It has been offline since 2019 amid reports that no comprehensive turnaround maintenance (TAM) had been carried out for as long as 40 years.

Having secured a $1bn loan from Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in February 2021, the Nigerian government awarded a $1.5bn contract to Italy’s Maire Tecnimont two months later covering the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work to revive the refinery.

The original plan was to achieve 90% of its nameplate capacity by 2023 with the second and third phases six and 26 months later. The Italian company, with compatriot supermajor Eni as technical advisor, had carried out a $50mn, six-month ‘integrity check’ including equipment inspection and “relevant engineering and planning activities” in 2019.