By Obafemi Oredein

Special to Dow Jones Newswires


IBADAN, Nigeria--Shell PLC's Nigerian unit said it has resumed supplying oil to the Port Harcourt Refining Company in southern Nigeria with over 475,000 barrels of crude oil.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, which Shell plans to sell to a consortium for up to $2.4 billion, said on Monday that it completed the supply through its Bonny oil and gas terminal. It added that supply from this terminal to the refinery resumed last week after an outage of more than five years.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company said in December that it completed phase-one rehabilitation work at the Port Harcourt refinery. The $1.5 billion rehabilitation project covers engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning phases, it said.

Future supplies from the terminal would depend on demand, Osagie Okunbor, managing director at Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, said.

Nigeria has four idled refineries with combined production capacity of 475,000 barrels a day. The NNPC said Port Harcourt refinery will begin production soon, reducing the country's dependence on imported petrol.

"The recommencement of crude oil supply from the Bonny Oil and Gas Terminal to the Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd. is a significant achievement and a game-changer for the industry and the country," said Osita Nnajiofor, installation manager at the Bonny terminal. "[It] will support federal government's aspiration of steady supply of petroleum products to the downstream market and other associated benefits to the economy of the nation."


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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-12-24 0747ET