Nigeria Tackles Oil Refinery Overhaul at Port Harcourt

Nigeria is desperate to fix its refineries, but progress in finding funds for overhaul programs has been very slow and challenging. State-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has concluded talks with lenders, to raise U.S.$1 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery that was shut for the first phase of repairs in March 2019. It secured the services of Italy's Maire Tecnimont to handle the assessment of the refinery complex, with oil major ENI appointed as the technical adviser. S&P Global Platts, which provides benchmark prices for commodity markets around the world, reports that the successful negotiations of the funding arrangement, led by Afreximbank, paved the way for the NNPC to move to the commercial stage of pre-qualifying bids submitted by local and international companies. These companies will be for the engineering, procurement, and construction contract award for the rehabilitation of 210,000 barrel per day at the Port Harcourt refinery.