Nigeria’s state-owned oil firm NNPC Ltd on Thursday signed an agreement allowing a local refiner to build and operate a 100,000 bpd refinery within NNPC’s Port Harcourt Refinery complex in the south of the country.
The plan to site another refinery close to the state-owned plant to maximize the use of existing facilities, known as co-location, was first made public in 2016 when the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC) advertised for tenders.
In 2018, NNPC approved a bid from African Refineries Port Harcourt (ARPH) Ltd to set up a new refinery within the Port Harcourt complex. NNPC was to take a 10% equity stake in the project.
ARPH then contracted a subsidiary of Italian engineering firm Maire Tecnimont Group to build the plant.
The 210,000 bpd Port Harcourt refinery was shut five years ago and is among moribund state-owned plants which the government is reviving. NNPC expects the refinery to hit full capacity later this year.
