The Federal Government and Italian Multinational firm, Tecnimont SpA Tuesday, April 6, signed a contract for the $1.5 billion Port Harcourt Refinery rehabilitation project.
The engineering, procurement and construction contract for the full rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery complex, aimed at restoring the complex to a minimum of 90 per cent of its nameplate capacity, was signed between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Tecnimont SpA, a subsidiary of Maire Tecnimont SpA.
Engr. Ahmed Dikko, Managing Director of Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) signed the contract for the Port Harcourt refinery, on behalf of the Federal Government, while Pellizola Davide, Vice President, Maire Tecnimont, Sub-Saharan Africa, signed for the contractor of the project – Tecnimont SpA.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of Maire Tecnimont, Pierroberto Folgiero, in a press statement during the signing ceremony, said his company is eager to keep on supporting a leading player in the oil industry, such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to develop Africa’s downstream sector.
According to him:
“with this great result, we confirm the soundness of our business strategy leveraging on our technological know-how to ensure more efficient and environmentally-friendly better performing processes and products, as we are strongly increasing our focus on initiatives for the modernization of the refining sector, such as these strategic rehabilitation works.
“Moreover, we enhance our footprint in Nigeria and in Sub-Saharan Africa, a market with excellent downstream prospects, given its demographics and the necessity to unlock greater added value from the transformation of natural resources”.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva had earlier disclosed that the rehabilitation would be done in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months, while the funding has three components from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Internally Generated Revenue (IGR); Afreximbank and budgetary provisions.
