The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced plans to begin a comprehensive rehabilitation of the country’s refineries, in order to achieve a peak capacity usage in 2017.

Anibor Kragha, NNPC’s Chief Operating Officer, Refineries, declared this in a statement signed by Ndu Ughamadu, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division in Abuja. According to Kragha, the Corporation is determined to change the initial approach of quick fixes and take on a comprehensive renovation of the plants.

“The plan for next year is to get the comprehensive rehabilitation programme done. The situation is like having three cars in your garage that have not been maintained for 15 to 20 years while you expect optimal performance from them. Changing one fuel pump here, one compressor there is not helpful. What we are doing now is to step back and take a holistic approach and do a full rehabilitation of all the refineries,’’ Kragha said.

The three refineries in Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt have had skeletal operations this year. Kragha added that the Port Harcourt Refinery was a few steps away from recommencing the production of Aviation Turbine Fuel known as aviation fuel, Guardian news reports.

The Managing Director of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company (KPRC), Mallam Idi Maiha, had said that it is certain that KPRC was persistently working towards a target of 75% capacity utilization in 2017, adding that the company would supply one cargo of crude oil per month.

The Managing Director of Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company, Solomon Ladenegan, on the other hand noted that in spite of the hostile operating environment, coupled with the ceaseless cases of pipeline vandalism and product theft, “the refinery was looking forward to better days ahead”.

Anita Fatunji