By Deborah Nnamdi
There is excitement and hope of further crash in prices of petroleum products, especially Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, as the Port Harcourt Refinery and Petrochemical Company commences operation.
Already, Naija Daily News learnt that the loading of PMS commenced on Tuesday, following the successful turn-around maintenance of the strategic oil facility in the Niger Delta region.
Sources said long lines of petrol tankers are currently being loaded at the refinery, raising hope about a likely crash in prices of petrol in Port Harcourt and other cities in the Southsouth and Southeast.
ironically, PMS price is highest in Rivers and other states in the Niger Delta – the oil belt of the country – because they are supplied from Lagos where most PMS import deals are done.
Photo: Petroleum tankers waiting to load product.
“Yes it is true (that the refinery is working) as we speak they are already loading products, especially PMS and we hope that this will bring about some respite for Nigerians over the high cost of petrol,” a source at the refinery told NDN on Tuesday afternoon.
It would be recalled that the PHRPC resumed crude processing on Tuesday, after many false starts and countless failed TAMs.
The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL announced the commencement of operation at the Port Harcourt Refinery, in a statement by the company’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, disclosed this on Tuesday.
Soneye said that the 250,000 barrels per day refinery kicked off at 60 per cent capacity, stressing that it is processing 60,000 barrels per day of crude.
Meanwhile, our findings revealed that the loadings being carried out on Tuesday were mainly for the Mega Stations owned by the NNPCL.
It was gathered that the major and independent marketers were still unsure about the PMS prices to be released by the NNPCL for the local markets to be serviced by the latest development.
It would be recalled at its latest price increment, the NNPCL fixed the price of PMS at N1,045/lt, which some of the marketers believe is unrealistic with the current market realities, especially in the face of competition provided by the Dangote Refinery.
NDN further recalled that DRL, the first independent refinery in the country, recently crashed prices by N20/lt, apparently in anticipation of completion from the PHC refinery.
“We are keenly watching the development”, one independent marketer told our reporter on the telephone. “We are careful because the price of petrol has been crashing for weeks now, and there is a high risk that unless care is taken we might suffer a huge loss.”
