For years, the Port Harcourt Refinery has stood as both a symbol of Nigeria’s oil wealth and its enduring mismanagement. Built in 1965, it once hummed with activity, refining crude oil into valuable products and fueling the economy. Today, however, it tells a different story—one of neglect, delays, and unfulfilled promises.
Barely two months after missing yet another deadline to revive the refinery, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is once again scrambling for answers. The latest explanation comes from the company’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, who blamed the missed September 2024 completion target on the complex challenges of working with a brownfield project.
“Mechanical completion of the PHRC revamp was successfully achieved several months ago, marking a significant milestone,” Soneye said, referring to the mechanical aspects of the rehabilitation. “However, as is common with brownfield projects of this scale and complexity, we encountered unforeseen risks and challenges.”
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This technical jargon may mean little to Nigerians who have been fed a steady diet of assurances. What they know is this: the refinery is still not working, and there is no clear indication of when it will.
A Familiar Cycle
It’s not the first time the Port Harcourt Refinery’s revival has faltered. In fact, this latest setback marks the seventh time the government and NNPCL have failed to meet a self-imposed deadline. Yet again, Nigerians are told to wait—this time indefinitely—as Soneye cautiously offers “shortly” as the new timeline for completion.
Promises of a functioning refinery have been as plentiful as they are hollow. Since December 2023, when the NNPCL triumphantly announced that the facility had achieved “mechanical completion,” deadlines have come and gone with little to show for it. In January, testing was reportedly underway, and crude oil supplies from Shell were secured in February to facilitate production. By March, hopes soared when NNPCL’s Group CEO, Mele Kyari, confidently told the Senate that operations would begin in April.
Then came July, another month filled with optimism. Independent marketers hinted at an imminent start, while NNPCL blamed regulatory approvals for the delay. By September, however, silence from the oil giant spoke volumes.
A Nation Left Waiting
The refinery’s endless delays are more than a technical issue—they are a human one. Nigerians have waited patiently, believing that domestic refining would bring relief from skyrocketing fuel costs. Instead, they remain saddled with high pump prices, reliant on imported fuel, and vulnerable to the volatility of global markets.
Against this backdrop, the $1.5 billion loan secured in 2021 for the refinery’s rehabilitation is now under scrutiny. Critics, including human rights lawyer Femi Falana, have demanded transparency. Falana’s formal request for the project’s completion timeline, filed under the Freedom of Information Act, was met with a curt denial from Maire Tecnimont SPA, the contractor overseeing the work.
As Maire Tecnimont’s legal counsel explained, the company is a private contractor and not bound by FOI obligations. While legally sound, the response left Nigerians in the dark, fueling suspicions of mismanagement and inefficiency.
Broken Promises, Growing Skepticism
The saga of the Port Harcourt Refinery is a microcosm of broader dysfunction in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. The NNPCL’s repeated assurances have done little to stem the tide of public frustration. From Mele Kyari’s bold 2019 promise to restore all four of Nigeria’s refineries before the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure to his more recent declaration that Nigeria would soon be a net exporter of petroleum products, each proclamation has crumbled under the weight of reality.
The irony is not lost on Nigerians: a country blessed with abundant crude oil is unable to refine enough for its own needs. Meanwhile, fuel imports continue unabated, with the NNPCL recently confirming it is not the sole off-taker of products from the Dangote Refinery.
A Clouded Future
The question now is not just when the Port Harcourt Refinery will begin operations but whether it will live up to expectations when it finally does. Initial plans projected the refinery would refine 60,000 barrels of crude per day upon completion—a modest figure compared to its full capacity of 210,000 barrels.
For now, the refinery stands as a monument to what could have been, its fate shrouded in uncertainty. As the year nears its end, Nigerians are left to wonder: How much longer must they wait? How many more promises will be broken before the country sees the benefits of its own resources?
In this endless cycle of delays and dashed hopes, the Port Harcourt Refinery has become more than a project—it is a test of faith, resilience, and the government’s ability to deliver on its word. For a nation hungry for progress, the wait has been far too long.