NNPC Boosts Refineries Capacity To 60% Utilisation

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it had retooled the nation’s refineries and raised their capacity utilisation to 60 per cent ahead of the planned turnaround maintenance.

This is contained in a statement by Mr Ohi Alegbe, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, in Abuja.

The statement quoted, Mr Andrew Yakubu, NNPC Group Managing Director (GMD), as saying that the refineries had been raised to 60 per cent utilisation capacity of their nameplate capacity.

Yakubu said there was a setback in the plan to get the original builders of the refineries to undertake their scheduled turnaround maintenance.
He said this was because of their refusal to come to Nigeria following security challenges facing the country.

The group managing director said the corporation had therefore deployed in-house expertise to fix critical units of the refineries which had increased their capacity utilisation to 60 per cent.

“The recent improved performance of our refineries, including the re-streaming of the secondary units, especially the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Units, is contributing to a substantial reduction of petroleum products into the country,” he said.

Yakubu said that the refineries were still facing constraint in capacity utilisation due to crude oil supply challenges as a result of pipeline vandalism.

He explained that NNPC was still working with the companies recommended by the original builders to outline the scope of work.

He said negotiations were nevertheless ongoing to ensure that the nation got value for every kobo to be expended on the project.