Federal Government-owned refineries, located in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri, lost over N231bn in the last four years as the proposed rehabilitation of the plants suffered a setback.
The Port Harcourt Refining Company has two refineries, while the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company have one each.
The refineries lost N34.57bn from June to December 2015; N8.64bn in 2016 (data for January to August showed); N47.19bn in 2017, and N132.51bn in 2018, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
When President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office on May 29, 2015, all the refineries were not processing crude oil, with Port Harcourt refinery sitting idle since January of that year while Warri and Kaduna stopped refining in February of the same year, according to available data from the NNPC.
In 2015, Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri refineries were idle for eight months, seven months and nine months, respectively, losing N10.05bn, N36.03bn and N21.39bn.
Warri refinery was idle for five months in 2016; KRPC did not refine crude for six months, and PHRC was only idle in September.
In 2017, Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt refineries were idle for six, five and two months, respectively, losing N32.61bn, N22.14bn and N11.51bn.
Kaduna refinery did not process crude oil for 11 months in 2018, while Port Harcourt and Warri were idle for seven and three months respectively, losing N31bn, N59.96bn and N41.71bn.
According to the latest data from the NNPC, Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries remained idle in January this year.
The refineries have a combined installed capacity of 445,000 barrels per day but have continued to operate far below the installed capacity for many years.
Source: Punch Newspaper
