Port Harcourt Refining Company

{{Infobox company

| name = Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited

| logo =

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| image = Gates of oil refinery in Port Harcourt.jpg

| image_caption = The Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd.

| alt = A picture of gates of the Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd. with an oil refinery's fire seen in the background in rainy weather.

| type = State-owned

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| foundation = {{Start date|df=yes|1965}}

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| location_city = Port Harcourt

| location_country = Nigeria

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| area_served = Nigeria

| key_people = Ahmed Dikko (Managing Director),{{cite web|title=DIKKO:Bringing Port Harcourt Refinery back to life|url=https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/06/dikko-bringing-port-harcourt-refinery-back-to-life/?amp=1|work=Vanguard|date=2021-06-01|access-date=2014-06-14}}

Mr. Babatunde Sofowora (Executive Director Services),

Mr.Reginald Udeh (Executive Director Finance) {{cite news|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201405200823.html|title=Explosion Didn't Affect Operations At Port Harcourt Refinery--Director|date=2014-05-19|work=AllAfrica.com|publisher=AllAfrica Global Media|access-date=2014-06-14}}

| industry = Oil and gas

| products = Petroleum and derived products

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| owner = Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation

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| homepage = {{URL|www.nnpcgroup.com/nnpcbusiness/subsidiaries/phrc.aspx}}

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}}

The Port Harcourt Refining Company, (abbreviated PHRC), is a Nigeria-based oil and gas company primarily specializing in the refining of crude oil into petroleum products. It is headquartered in Port Harcourt metropolitan area of Rivers State, southeastern Nigeria. The company is a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).{{cite web|url=http://dprnigeria.org.ng/dpr-operations/downstream/refinery/|title=Refinery|work=dprnigeria.com|publisher=Department of Petroleum Resources|access-date=2014-06-14}}

Located in Alesa Eleme just to the southeast of Port Harcourt, the company operates two oil refineries, including an old plant commissioned in 1965 that can process {{convert|60,000|oilbbl|m3}} per stream day, as well as the new plant commissioned in 1989, which has a capacity of {{convert|150,000|oilbbl|m3}} per stream day. Both oil refineries possess a combined capacity of {{convert|210,000|oilbbl|m3}} per stream day.

The refinery in Port Harcourt, along with other state-owned refineries in the country, has only utilised a fraction of its capacity in recent decades due to inefficient processes and a lack of maintenance. This has led to Nigeria, Africa's largest crude oil producer, becoming increasingly reliant on imports of refined petroleum products.{{Cite web |last=Bala-Gbogbo |first=Elisha |date=2023-08-25 |title=Nigeria seeks to restart four state oil refineries by end 2024 |url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/nigeria-seeks-restart-four-state-oil-refineries-by-end-2024-minister-2023-08-25/ |access-date=2023-12-16 |website=Reuters}}

In March 2021, the Nigerian government approved expenditure of GBP 1.08 billion (USD 1.5 billion) for the refurbishment and modernisation of the refinery complex in Port Harcourt. The main contract for the modernisation of the refinery was also awarded in the same month.{{Cite web |last=Reporters |first=Swift |date=2023-08-25 |title=Engr. Dikko's Commitment To Port Harcourt Refinery Rehabilitation Justified |url=https://swiftreporters.com/engr-dikkos-commitment-to-port-harcourt-refinery-rehabilitation-justified/ |access-date=2023-12-16 |website=Swift Reporters |language=en-US}}

The renovation project for the refinery in Port Harcourt, which will be carried out in three phases, is scheduled for completion by 2025.{{Citation |title=PH REFINERY UPDATE DOCUMENTARY | date=30 November 2023 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aufvFo_iDVA |access-date=2023-12-16 |language=en}}

Old plant

The old refinery comprises a crude distillation unit (CDU), a catalytic reforming unit (CRU) and a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant.{{Cite web |title=Port Harcourt Refinery Rehabilitation and Upgrade, Nigeria |url=https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/projects/port-harcourt-refinery-rehabilitation/ |access-date=2023-12-16 |language=en-US}}

New plant

The new refinery in Port Harcourt includes a crude distillation unit (CDU), a vacuum distillation unit (VDU), a naphtha hydrotreating unit (NHTU), a catalytic reforming unit (CRU), a continuous catalyst regeneration unit (CCR), a paraffin hydrotreating unit, a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit and a dimersol unit for converting propylene into a petrol blend product. (You can find a comprehensive description of most of these units in the article about the Dangote refinery in Lekki here.)

There is also a butamer isomerisation plant,{{Cite web |title=Refining Industry Butamer Isomerization Unit |url=https://cache.industry.siemens.com/dl/files/519/109770519/att_995306/v1/91810_PIAAP-00010-0713_Butamer_Unit_Web.pdf}} an alkylation plant, a hydrogen purification plant, a fuel gas vaporiser and plants for treating acidic water and lye.

The refinery complex

The refinery complex has an 84 MW gas fired electric power plant,{{cite web|url=https://www.esi-africa.com/industry-sectors/generation/port-harcourt-refinery-complex-an-african-power-energy-elites-project/ |title=PORT HARCOURT REFINERY COMPLEX - an Elites project |date=18 July 2022 }} and four boilers each with a steam generation capacity of 120 tonnes (t) per hour.

The refinery products include petrol, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas, paraffin for aircraft and households, low-viscosity fuel oil (LPFO) and high-viscosity fuel oil (HPFO).

Recent Developments

On May 24, 2025,

NNPC announced the shut down the Port Harcourt refinery for planned maintenance, merely 6months after it claimed to have resumed operations. No timeline or scope provided for the shutdown following the latest round of repair costing $1.5B.https://www.punchng.com/ops-pushes-for-refinery-sell-off-after-2-4bn-wobbly-repairs

=Critiques=

Since about 2013, the government has reported spending over $27billion trying to fix its three “moribund” refineries which remain not operating.https://thenationonlineng.net/its-time-for-nnpcl-to-let-go/

Meanwhile, the 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) Dangote Petroleum Refinery was set up with about $20 billion and is already operating (compared to at least $28B spent on repairing the combined refining capacity of 445,000 bpd of NNPC assets ).