By Teddy Nwanunobi
The Federal Government targets to sign the contracts for the rehabilitation of the Warri and Kaduna refineries in June.
Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, who dropped the hint, disclosed that the Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation and Commissioning (EPCIC) contracts for the two refineries would be awarded in June 2021.
It would be recalled that the Corporation, on Tuesday, signed the EPCIC contract for the rehabilitation of the 210,000 barrels per day (bpd) capacity Port Harcourt Refinery in Alesa-Eleme, Rivers State.
The rehabilitation project, which has a completion timeline of between 18 and 44 months under a three-phase arrangement, was awarded to Milan based Tecnimont SpA at a lump sum contract price of $1.5 billion, inclusive of the value added tax (VAT) and other statutory payments.
Kyari described the PHRC rehabilitation project as a dream come true, noting that the project was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise to Nigerians to make the refineries work.
Kyari, who reiterated that in arriving at the choice of Tecnimont SpA, the Corporation embarked on a transparent tender process which can withstand any forensic audit, noted that the NNPC was ready and open to answer any question pertaining to the project.
He assured that the same transparent process has been emplaced for the rehabilitation of the Warri and Kaduna refineries.
Kyari further explained that the rehabilitation exercise was very different from a routine Turn-Around Maintenance (TAM) as it would entail a total retrofitting of the plant, with major parts and equipment replaced with new ones.
Providing further insight into the project, the Managing Director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited, Engr. Ahmed Dikko, explained that phases 1 and 2 of the project would get the Refinery ready to receive hydrocarbon, while Phase 3 will focus on the starting-up of the Refinery for operation.
Dikko stressed that the entire work shall be delivered in 44 months from the day the contract was signed.
In his remarks, the Vice President of the Sub-Saharan Africa Region of Tecnimont SpA, Davide Pelizzola, pledged the readiness of his company to work assiduously with the NNPC to comply with the terms and obligations of the contract.
The signing ceremony of the PHRC rehabilitation project was witnessed by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers NUPENG amongst others.