Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited

The Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd.
Company type	State-owned
Industry	Oil and gas
Founded	1965 (1965)
Headquarters	Port Harcourt , Nigeria
Area served	Nigeria
Key people	Ahmed Dikko (Managing Director),[1] Mr. Babatunde Sofowora (Executive Director Services), Mr.Reginald Udeh (Executive Director Finance) [2]
Products	Petroleum and derived products
Owner	Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
Website	www.nnpcgroup.com/nnpcbusiness/subsidiaries/phrc.aspx

The Port Harcourt Refining Company, (abbreviated PHRC), is a Nigeria-based oil and gas company primarily specializing in the refining of crude oil into petroleum products. It is headquartered in Port Harcourt metropolitan area of Rivers State, southeastern Nigeria. The company is a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).^[3]

Located in Alesa Eleme just to the southeast of Port Harcourt, the company operates two oil refineries, including an old plant commissioned in 1965 that can process 60,000 barrels (9,500 m³) per stream day, as well as the new plant commissioned in 1989, which has a capacity of 150,000 barrels (24,000 m³) per stream day. Both oil refineries possess a combined capacity of 210,000 barrels (33,000 m³) per stream day.

The refinery in Port Harcourt, along with other state-owned refineries in the country, has only utilised a fraction of its capacity in recent decades due to inefficient processes and a lack of maintenance. This has led to Nigeria, Africa's largest crude oil producer, becoming increasingly reliant on imports of refined petroleum products.^[4]

In March 2021, the Nigerian government approved expenditure of GBP 1.08 billion (USD 1.5 billion) for the refurbishment and modernisation of the refinery complex in Port Harcourt. The main contract for the modernisation of the refinery was also awarded in the same month.^[5]

The renovation project for the refinery in Port Harcourt, which will be carried out in three phases, is scheduled for completion by 2025.^[4][6]

Old plant

The old refinery comprises a crude distillation unit (CDU), a catalytic reforming unit (CRU) and a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant.^[7]

New plant

The new refinery in Port Harcourt includes a crude distillation unit (CDU), a vacuum distillation unit (VDU), a naphtha hydrotreating unit (NHTU), a catalytic reforming unit (CRU), a continuous catalyst regeneration unit (CCR), a paraffin hydrotreating unit, a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit and a dimersol unit for converting propylene into a petrol blend product.^[7] (You can find a comprehensive description of most of these units in the article about the Dangote refinery in Lekki here.)

There is also a butamer isomerisation plant,^[8] an alkylation plant, a hydrogen purification plant, a fuel gas vaporiser and plants for treating acidic water and lye.^[7]

The refinery complex

The refinery complex has four turbo generators, each with a power generation capacity of 14 MW per hour, and four boilers, each with a steam generation capacity of 120 tonnes (t) per hour.^[7]

The refinery products include petrol, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas, paraffin for aircraft and households, low-viscosity fuel oil (LPFO) and high-viscosity fuel oil (HPFO).^[7]