Nigeria Seeks Operators for Port Harcourt Oil Refinery

Nigeria's state-owned oil company NNPC Ltd on Monday tendered for operators of its Port Harcourt oil refinery in the Niger Delta, which is expected to begin production in the first quarter of this year, the company said.

The refinery, which is undergoing an upgrade, will begin by processing 60,000 barrels per day (bpd), and NNPC expects to operate at the full capacity of 210,000 bpd later this year.

NNPC said in a public notice that it wanted to engage reputable and credible operations firms "to operate and maintain one of its refineries, Port Harcourt Refining Company, to ensure reliability and sustainability towards meeting the nation's fuel supply and energy security obligations."

The oil company said prospective operators should have a turnover of at least $2 billion since 2019, evidence of their latest credit rating and experience in running refineries.

NNPC said on Jan. 4 that it would complete test runs at the Port Harcourt refinery this month before resuming production.

The refinery, which was shut five years ago, is among state-owned refineries that have been mothballed for years, but which the Nigerian government is trying to revive to end the country's reliance on imported refined products.

(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Alison Williams)