Timipre Sylva, the minister of state for petroleum resources, has said the Port Harcourt refinery will be ready in the second quarter of 2023.
The minister said this on Wednesday at a seminar by defence correspondents with the theme, ‘‘Achieving presidential mandate in curbing oil theft and securing the nation’s wealth” in Abuja.
Represented by his media aide, Horatius Egua, he said the problems confronting the oil and gas industry stemmed from years of neglect by past administrations.
“The oil and gas industry is the most complex sector in this country. The more you look, the less you see,” he said.
“In the last 12 months, the order by the president to end oil theft in the country is beginning to yield results.
“Before then our production went down to 900, 000 barrels per day but today it is gradually picking up and oscillating between 1.5 and 1.6 million barrels per day.
“Apart from stealing, past governments did not invest in infrastructure in the oil and gas sector for a very long time.
“You find pipelines rupturing; we could not get what we wanted but this administration has done that. Also, our refineries are not working despite the millions of naira spent on them.
“The president directed that the refineries must work and as it is the Port Harcourt refinery is at 65-70 percent. hopefully before the end of the second quarter of the year. I believe something will come out of that refinery.”
