The Federal Government Wednesday said that Port Harcourt Refinery will become functional by December.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who hinted this at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by the President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the development of the compressed natural gas is still in progress.
Asked when the rehabilitation of the refineries would be completed, Sylva said:
ATTENTION: Click “HERE” to join our WhatsApp group and receive News updates directly on your WhatsApp!
“The rehabilitation of the refineries is ongoing. As we said earlier, the old refinery in Port Harcourt, which is about 60,000 barrels per day capacity, will be functional by December and, of course, we still have some time in the contracting time to conclude the rest of the Port Harcourt Refineries.
“Works in the Kaduna and Warri refineries are also in progressing very well. We will soon be embarking on an inspection visit and some of you journalists will be will be able to go with us to ascertain for yourselves what the extent of work is.”
According to the minister, the sum of N2.044 billion was approved by the council for the construction of drainage, internal road and facilities at the Gas Hub in Bayelsa State.
Reacting to a question on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Sylva said:
“On the CNG development, it’s very much in progress. That is part of the promises we made, part of the things we want to put in place before the removal of subsidy.
” Subsidy has still not been removed because some of these conditions that were agreed upon have not been met and we’re definitely working assiduously to ensure that all the facilities are in place, the pumping stations and the conversion kits.
“I can assure you that work is going on very much in that regard. We may not be in a position to announce exactly what we are doing now or where we are, but I can assure you that work is very much ongoing.”
READ ALSO: Again, Oil Spillage Occurs in Ogoni
