FG approves $1.5bn for rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery

The Federal Government has approved $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery.

The approval was announced at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, led by president Buhari’at the council chamber in Abuja, March 17.

Timpre Sylva, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, revealed this after he spoke to newsmen after the meeting.

According to him, the rehabilitation will be carried out in three phases and will start immediately.

The project will be handled by an Italian firm, Tecnimont S.P.A. The first phase is expected to be completed in 2 years, while the rest of the project will be completed in next three years after the first phase.

He said: “The Ministry of Petroleum Resources presented a memo on the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery for the sum of $1.5 billion, and that memo was $1.5 billion and it was approved by council today(Thursday).

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“So we are happy to announce that the rehabilitation of productivity refinery will commence in three phases.

“The first phase is to be completed in 18 months, which will take the refinery to a production of 90% of its nameplate capacity.

“The second phase is to be completed in 24 months and all the final stage will be completed in 44 months and consultations are approved.

“And I believe that this is good news for Nigeria.”