Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) has said it reduced operations to accommodate facility improvements.
Gatekeepers News reports that there had been reports going around that the refinery stopped loading petroleum products at its gantry.
Executive director of operations at Nigerian Pipeline and Storage Company Limited (NPSC), Moyi Maidunama while speaking on Sunday during a tour of the facility, said the refinery had not halted operations.
He said, “We are evacuating the refined products from the refinery and this is obviously going to be a continuous process. We have done a couple of trucks today and intend to do many more today.”
“So, the operations were not halted. It was obviously reduced due to some improvements that we needed to make.”
“We are managing the process with the number of trucks available today, using a few loading arms for evacuation. This should be resolved soon.”
Maidunama assured that product distribution is ongoing and the process will continue unhinged.
Also, Molokwuu Joel, terminal manager of Port Harcourt depot said the facility had commenced distribution of products, including premium motor spirit (petrol), kerosene, and diesel.
Joel further expressed concerns over the low turnout of tanker drivers.
He said, “We have our loading arms operational and we have been begging them (petroleum marketers) to come in since yesterday but because today is weekend that is why they have not turned up. If you give us 100 trucks today we will evacuate them in less than 5 hours.”
“So it is not our problem if there are no loading trucks, it is the tanker drivers’ problem. We have been begging them since yesterday to come around and take the products but they didn’t turn up, it was just this morning after pleading with them that they came.”
Joel said although the facility has eleven working loading bays, only three are being used at the moment because of their high efficiency, adding that each bay can load three trucks in 15 minutes.
Ibrahim Onoja, managing director of PHRC said the refinery has undergone significant improvements to increase efficiency and dependability.
He said, “The plant is running, and we are trucking out our products. We’ve carried out a massive revamp, replacing most of the equipment, including pumps instrumentation, and cables. What we’ve done here is a significant upgrade of the facility.”
