To ease the current scarcity of Aviation Turbine Kerosene, ATK, popularly called aviation fuel, in the country, the Port Harcourt Refining Company, PHRC, says it would soon commence the production of the commodity.
The Managing Director of the company, Bafred Enjugu, announced this when the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, visited the 210,000 barrels per day facility.
Mr. Enjugu said during an official tour of the refinery that restoring production at the facility was part of efforts to reposition it for profitability in line with the 12-point agenda of the NNPC management.
“The good news is that the refinery has met all the international parameters for the production of aviation fuel. We have scored 24 out of the 24 parameters for the production of aviation fuel and I must say that this is made possible because of the never-give-up attitude of workers of the great PHRC,” Mr. Enjugu said.
He said the refinery has successfully blended ATK and was only waiting for appropriate conditions to commence full scale production of the product in response to demand of the aviation sector.
In his speech, the NNPC GMD described PHRC as the nation’s flagship refining company, assuring that the Corporation would do everything possible to ensure that the refinery was not just back in operation, but also doing so profitably and contributing effectively to meeting local demand for petroleum products in line with its vision and mission.
“We cannot under-estimate the importance of refining, because that is our identity. We shall do whatever it takes to get the two plants running at all times and work, to tackle whatever could militate against their achieving set targets and objectives,” he told staff members at a town hall meeting.
Meanwhile, Mr. Baru promised to complete all ongoing gas infrastructure projects as part of measures to boost the nation’s economy.
He said the NGPTC and NGMC were particularly important in the aggressive drive to provide gas for power generation and industries to propel the nation’s economic growth.
The NGPTC, he pointed out, was expected to drive the gas infrastructure projects, such as the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System II (ELPS II), Obrikom-Obiafu-Oben (OB-3), Abuja-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) and the expansion of the Eastern Gas network to completion as well as maintain the operation of the existing network.
In the coming years, he said both NGPTC and NGMC would focus more on gas processing activities to enhance their growth opportunities.
The NNPC boss said the country was looking up to NNPC to be more aggressive in generating funds to help pull it out of the current recession.
He enjoined staff of the Corporation to remain focused and ensure efficiency, transparency and excellent service delivery to customers.
