The Port Harcourt Refinery, which recently reopened after years of inactivity, has faced backlash over claims that it is not producing fresh petroleum products. Instead, it is allegedly using old stock stored in its tanks for over three years.

Timothy Mgbere, Secretary of the Alesa community stakeholders in Rivers State, made this statement during an interview on Arise TV. He revealed that despite promises to dispatch 200 trucks of petroleum daily, the refinery loaded only six trucks on Tuesday.

He said, ” The Port Harcourt refinery, and by extension, the Port Harcourt depot, happens to be the mainstay of the Alesa community economy, the economic activities emanating from the operations of these depots means a lot to us as a community people, but as it were, now, I don’t think it’s a cause for celebration yet, because what we are having in the media space is different from what we have on the ground.

“I can tell you on authority as a community person, that what happened on Tuesday was just a mere show at the Port Harcourt depot,

“A mere show in the sense that the Port Harcourt refinery, we call it area five, that is the old refinery, is merely in skeletal operation.
“When I say skeletal, I mean that some units of the refinery were recently brought up and are running, but not the entire unit of the old refinery is functional, as we speak.

“I will give them the credit that at least they have started something, but not to say, according to the Head of Corporate Communication of the NNPC limited, Femi Soneye, like it is in the media that they are already producing 1.4m barrels per day. That’s not the case. That’s not true.

“It’s a very big, I don’t want to use the word lie, but as an agency that is holding the oil industry on trust for Nigerians, they shouldn’t put out some of this information that is not true.”

He added, The true picture of what happened on Tuesday is that the NNPC has been under pressure to televise to Nigerians that everything is okay and then that the old refinery has started functioning.

“I can tell you that the GMD, or the CEO of the refinery, was in Port Harcourt since Monday; the other MDs were also in Port Harcourt. The MD of Port Harcourt refinery and those heading the operations department didn’t sleep through the night of Monday to Tuesday because of this whole event they had on Tuesday.

“What is the true picture? The Old Port Harcourt refinery is built with its utilities, different from the new complex. The tank farm that is servicing the Old Port Harcourt refinery has a different loading gantry at the depot.’

The refinery, located in Alesa, Eleme, is one of Nigeria’s largest. It resumed operations this week, with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) announcing that its refurbished facility operates at 70% capacity. NNPCL claimed the refinery would produce daily outputs of:

• 1.5 million litres of diesel
• 2.1 million litres of low-pour fuel oil
• 1.4 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS)
• 900,000 litres of kerosene

However, Mgbere challenged these figures, stating that the refinery has yet to produce fresh products. He described the reopening ceremony as a mere “party” and accused NNPCL of spreading false information to mislead Nigerians.

He urged the NNPCL to address the issues preventing full-scale production and be transparent about the facility’s actual performance.

The situation has raised questions about the effectiveness of the refinery’s rehabilitation and the transparency of NNPCL’s operations. Many Nigerians are now seeking clarity on whether the Port Harcourt Refinery can truly deliver on its promises or if its reopening is just for show.

• The refinery allegedly dispatched products stored for three years instead of freshly refined fuel.
• Promises of 200 daily truckloads were not met, with only six trucks leaving the refinery on Tuesday.
• The host community urges NNPCL to provide honest updates on the refinery’s progress.

This development highlights ongoing challenges in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, particularly the need for accountability in revitalizing the country’s refineries.

Continuing, he said, “The party they had on Tuesday was held at the new loading gantry that is directly connected to the new refinery. And so, how does that work? It is impossible.

“They went there because the storage facility for the old refinery had some stock, old stock that has been there for over three years.

“And so what they had, they released that stock, and then loaded six trucks and then televised it to Nigerians that it is the production from the old refinery. That’s not true.

“And so I like Nigerians to know the truth, but they don’t need to believe me, because Nigerians, no matter how you paint the true pictures to them, they get sentimental. They get tribal. They want to whip some sentiment and all that the product that was loaded. But let it be on record that it was only six trucks that they used to calibrate the new loading gantry. The product was not a new refined product from the old refinery.”