NNPCL Announces Routine Shutdown of Port Harcourt Refinery for Maintenance

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) announced a maintenance shutdown of the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), on Saturday, May 24, 2025. According to a statement from NNPCL’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, the move is a scheduled sustainability assessment to enhance the refinery’s long-term performance and ensure safe operations.

“This scheduled maintenance and sustainability assessment will commence on May 24, 2025,” the official announcement stated. “We are working closely with all relevant stakeholders, including the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), to ensure the activities are carried out efficiently and transparently.”

Soneye emphasized the company’s ongoing commitment to maintaining national energy security, assuring the public that regular updates would be communicated through official channels such as NNPCL’s website and media platforms.

Not a Shutdown from Failure – Routine and Pre-Planned

Soneye dispelled public concerns that the refinery was experiencing a technical failure or system breakdown. He confirmed that the Port Harcourt refinery had been operational for a year before this routine intervention.

“The refinery has been working for one year. Our action was for routine maintenance and a sustainability test. It was not shut down, please,” Soneye stated, reiterating that this is a proactive step for ensuring continuous, safe, and efficient operations

This distinction is crucial, especially given Nigeria’s history of intermittent refinery operations and decades-long dependency on imported refined petroleum products. By emphasizing transparency and stakeholder collaboration, NNPCL hopes to avoid speculation and public apprehension surrounding refinery operations.

Port Harcourt Refinery: From Rehabilitation to Production

The current Port Harcourt Refinery shutdown comes months after its highly celebrated return to production. On December 21, 2023, the Federal Government announced the mechanical completion of the facility and the successful flare start-off, marking a major milestone after years of inactivity. The PHRC comprises two refining units: the old plant with a 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) capacity and the new plant with 150,000 bpd, combining for a total capacity of 210,000 bpd. The refinery had been offline since March 2019 to undergo a multi-phase rehabilitation project. Italian firm Maire Tecnimont was awarded the lead role in the rehabilitation, while oil giant Eni served as the technical adviser. Following the project’s progress, NNPCL began truck loading of petroleum products from the site on November 26, 2024, signaling a reentry of domestically refined products into the Nigerian market. This maintenance phase, therefore, marks another step in the long-term strategy to secure operational reliability and reduce Nigeria’s dependency on imported fuel. As NNPCL continues to push for refinery revitalization, public transparency and adherence to best practices in refinery management remain central to its strategy.