PORT HARCOURT: Timothy Mgbere, the Secretary of the Alesa community stakeholders, has challenged the claims surrounding the recent activities at the newly rehabilitated Port-Harcourt Refinery, alleging that the petroleum products loaded from the facility were not freshly refined. Instead, he contended that they were products stored in the refinery’s tanks for the past three years.
some part of the Refinery
Mgbere made these remarks during an interview on Arise TV, where he criticized the refinery’s resumption of operations. According to him, despite official reports claiming that the refinery would process 200 trucks of petroleum products daily, only six trucks were loaded on Tuesday. He described the event as more of a public relations stunt than
a genuine return to full-scale production.
The Port-Harcourt Rehttps://rapidospace.com/nigerias-refinery-privatization-plan-a-step-towards-reducing-fuel-imports-and-enhancing-domestic-production/finery, located in Alesa, one of the key communities in Eleme, Rivers State, resumed operations earlier this week after years of dormancy. The rehabilitation of the refinery was touted as a major milestone, with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) reporting that the facility is now operating at 70% of its installed capacity.
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However, Mgbere, whose community hosts the refinery, expressed skepticism about these claims, emphasizing that the event on Tuesday was “just a mere show.” He explained that only part of the old refinery, known as Area Five, is operational, with several units still inactive. He also disputed reports that the refinery was producing up to 1.4 million barrels of fuel per day, calling such statements misleading.
The full units of the old refinery are not functioning, and what is being claimed in the media does not reflect the reality on the ground,” Mgbere stated. The product that was loaded was not freshly refined. it was old stock that has been sitting in the storage tanks for over three years.
The NNPC’s claim of producing large quantities of fuel, according to Mgbere, was an attempt to paint an overly optimistic picture. He emphasized that only six trucks of product were dispatched on Tuesday, all from pre-existing stock, which was released to demonstrate the new loading gantry rather than any new refining process.
Mgbere urged Nigerians to question the official narratives surrounding the refinery’s operations and called for transparency in reporting the true state of the facility’s capabilities
