By Jimitota Onoyume

PORT HARCOURT— Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited, PHRC, has blamed the high cost of kerosene in Rivers State on market forces, even as it said it is now operating at a minimum capacity of 60 percent.

Speaking yesterday at the opening of a media workshop in Port Harcourt, organized for journalists in the state, Managing Director, of PHRC,  Dr. Bafred Enjugu, said the company had ensured that there was no scarcity of the product in the state, lamenting  that in recent times about 800 trucks conveying kerosene had been leaving daily from the refinery.

A long queue for expensive and unavailable kerosine

He also said the firm would soon  commence massive production of Aviation Turbine Kero, ATK, for  the aviation sector, saying: “We are refining kerosene, it is the first thing that comes out of the refinery but I cannot explain why the high cost of the product. I think the price is as a result of market forces.”

According to him, the company was operating at a minimum of 60 percent, expressing hope that it would soon operate at an optimum capacity of 100.5 percent.

He said in December last year PHRC generated about N2.95 billion from production, saying it was already working to hit N1.3 trillion.

Dr Enjugu lamented that security and equipment were part of major impediments to production in the company, stressing that efforts were ongoing to overcome them.