By Istifanus Ahmed

The Port Harcourt Refinery last Tuesday resumed operations after years of delays, maintenance challenges and rising dependency on imported refined petroleum products. 

The Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, Mr Olufemi Soneye, in a statement said the refinery would be producing the following daily outputs:

Straight-Run Gasoline (Naphtha): Blended into 1.4 million liters of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS or petrol); Kerosene: 900,000 liters; Automotive Gas Oil (AGO or Diesel): 1.5 million liters; Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO): 2.1 million liters; and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG): Additional volumes.

Following the misinformation that has trailed the operations of the refinery since it came on stream however, Mr Soneye has explained the process of refining and blending in PMS production in a bid to get Nigerians properly informed.

Mr Soneye said “refining and blending are interconnected processes crucial for crude oil processing and optimizing refinery yields, especially when producing Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). PMS is not a single product but a carefully crafted blend of various refinery outputs, including naphtha, reformate, pentane-plus hydrocarbons, and other middle distillates, designed to enhance value and meet consumer needs. 

“Blending operations are standard in refineries worldwide, with the process and ratios varying based on factors like crude oil type, refinery configuration, and specific fuel requirements (e.g., octane rating or sulfur content). Nigerians should not be swayed by individuals misusing technical terms they don’t fully understand to spread misinformation or hinder progress. 

“Blending and refining remain essential and sophisticated components of modern fuel production.”

Explaining further, Mr Soneye said, “we are not blending Straight-Run Gasoline, SRG with Napthat. SRG is blended with Crack C5. It is normal practice to blend SRG with Crack C5. Straight-run gasoline blended with cracked C5 refers to a mix of two distinct gasoline components, typically aimed at optimizing fuel quality and meeting market specifications. SRG is often blended with higher-octane components such as crack C5 to create commercially viable gasoline. C5 is derived from fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) processes, specifically from the lighter fractions of the cracked products. 

“Our FCC is in the New PH refinery, and it is undergoing construction. Blending takes place in the FCC which is normal operation practice. Cracked C5 compensates for the low octane rating of straight-run gasoline, making the blend suitable for modern engines”.

He also talked about the operating model for the refinery. He said, “Crude Oil supply will be purchased from our NNPC Trading Company under sales and purchase agreement. Crude oil transportation will be via pipelines under the tariffing framework. Operations and Maintenance (planned turnarounds and reliability engineering) will be outsourced to the external contractor based on a 5-year contract. Planning and Scheduling, Commercial, supply chain and Finance will be under PHRC while Product evacuation/offtake will be via NNPC Retail under the purchase agreement.”

He noted that in order to ensure the sustainability of the historical operations of both the old and the new Port Harcourt Refinery, “NNPC has put in place an interim Operations and Maintenance Contract to guarantee uninterrupted operations of Area 5. We are about to finalise the 5 years O&M tendering process, this will finally put us on the right path to ensure we have the best Contractor in the world working in NNPC to ensure reliability and utilisation of the 210, 000 bpd refinery – this would ensure energy security to the Country.”

Speaking in an interview on Arise TV News, Dr Gillis-Harry said, “I do not know any refinery in the world today that does not engage in blending. And why do you blend? You blend because of the volatility of different products. So, for the PMS, the volatility rate is very high, and there has to be some kind of blending that will enable the volatility to be stable. Otherwise, you will buy gasoline for N10,000, and before you know it, it has evaporated.”