The Port Harcourt Refining Company has clarified that its operations were not completely halted but scaled down to facilitate improvements at the facility.
It disclosed this on Sunday as the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria insisted that it would not buy from the Port Harcourt refinery if the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited sells fuel from the plant at an expensive rate.
Oil retailers had claimed that NNPCL was dispensing petrol from the plant at N1,030/litre. This is about N60 higher than the price of petrol produced by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
Although NNPCL denied the claim, it failed to state the price of petrol produced from the newly rehabilitated Port Harcourt refinery.
Speaking during a guided tour of the Port Harcourt refinery led by the Managing Director, Ibrahim Onoja, the Executive Director of Operations, Nigerian Pipeline and Storage Company Limited, Moyi Maidunama, said the plant was working.
Maidunama told journalists that there was a temporary hitch in operations, but explained that the reduction in operations was necessary to address technical issues and enhance capacity.
