Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has said that three refineries under the management of the NNPC could not refine a drop of crude oil amid concerns by the Nigeria Labour Congress over the comatose state of the facilities.
In its most recent financial and operations report, the national oil firm stated that the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, Port Harcourt Refining Company and Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company processed no crude oil in January this year.
Although it attributed this to the rehabilitation of the facilities, findings showed that the refineries had remained dormant in terms of crude oil refining, as all-through 2020 their cumulative capacity utilisation was also zero.
Commenting on the capacity utilisation of the facilities for the first month of this year in its latest report, the oil firm said, “In January 2021, the three refineries processed no crude and combined yield efficiency is zero per cent owing largely to ongoing rehabilitation works in the refineries.
“The declining operational performance is attributable to ongoing revamping of the refineries, which is expected to further enhance capacity utilisation once completed.”
Further analysis of the report showed that the facilities also posted losses in the review month, recording a cumulative loss of N5.37billion.
A breakdown of their individual losses showed that KRPC lost N1.81billion, PHRC posted N2.34billion loss, while WRPC recorded the least revenue loss of N1.23billion.
This came as the NLC expressed concern over the comatose state of the refineries but stated that its position was that all the facilities should be revamped and put to efficient use.
The Deputy President, NLC, Joe Ajaero, told our correspondent that the labour union considered the states of Nigeria’s refineries at its National Executive Council held on April 22, 2021.
In the document on resolutions reached at the NEC, which was signed by the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, and the Acting General Secretary, Ismail Bello, the union said it considered recent reports on efforts by the government to revamp Nigeria’s comatose refineries.
The union said, “The NEC observed that the sum budgeted for the revamping of the Port Harcourt refinery appears to be on the high side considering earlier proposals for an overhaul of Nigeria’s refineries estimated at about $450million.