The Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), and Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) are at war over the overloading of products at the refinery.
While PHRC accused tanker drivers of being responsible for the low pace of loading of petroleum products at the facility, PTD, through its umbrella body, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), dismissed the allegation, saying the company was being economical with the truth.
Meanwhile, Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria (MEMAN), Petroleum Products Retail Outlets owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) and National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) said they were ready to lift products and were working on it.
When journalists visited the Area 5 of the refinery, yesterday, about 3p.m, refining of petroleum products was ongoing.
A source in the facility said the refinery produces daily, adding that it has maintained its production status as disclosed earlier on Tuesday.
Also, at the loading bay of the refinery, three trucks were being loaded, while seven others were standing by within the bay to be loaded.
It was observed that of the 18 loading points in the facility, only three were in use.
It was further observed that only tankers with NNPC insignia were loading and seen within the premises of the refinery.
Although the facility was not bustling with life, activities were on going within the loading bay and the production area.
The Terminal Manager of Port Harcourt Refinery, Worlu Joel, disclosed that the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) arm of the refinery was working and that loading of trucks has not stopped since Tuesday.
He noted that the facility has the capacity of loading 100 trucks in an hour, but that out of the 18 points, 11 were functional at the moment.
He said out of the 11, only three were being used because the facility was delivering optimally.
Joel said: “Out of the three, each one has the capacity of loading three trucks in 15 minutes. A truck is 45,000 litres minimum. We have the ones of 60,000 litres. Already, we have loaded more than 10 trucks.
“So, before the close of work yesterday, just in the next one hour, we are going to evacuate minimum of 15 trucks.”
Joel said that there were enough products but that tankers drivers are not coming up to load, calling on tankers drivers to come on to load.
“If you give us 100 trucks yesterday, we will evacuate it in less than five hours. So, it is not our problem if there are no loading trucks, it is the tanker drivers’ problem. We have been begging them since yesterday to come around and take the products but they didn’t turn up, it was just this morning (yesterday) after pleading with them that they came.”
General Secretary of NUPENG, Mr. Afolabi Olawale, while reacting to the development, told newsmen that what the management of PHRC said was false.
“The management is economical with the truth. People should know how we operate. We (tanker drivers) cannot just drive into the refinery to load products. The marketers buy the products and contract the employers of tankers drivers, Nigeria Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO.
“It is only when NARTO informs tanker drivers where there are products for loading that we can go in and load. We are ready at all times to load products when and where products are available,” he added.
Reacting on the readiness of Port Harcourt refinery to flood the market with petroleum products, yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Clement Isong said its members were ready to do business with the Port Harcourt refinery.
On his part, the Chairman of Mr. Billy Gillis-Harry, said the association had submitted an application and was waiting for a response from the refinery.
“PETROAN is ready to do business with all refineries. Already, we have submitted an application at the refinery portal. We are waiting for its response. We intend to do business with the refinery.”
National President, IPMAN, Alhaji Abubakar Shettima, expressed happiness at the reopening of the refinery, noting marketers could not say much about the reopening as they have not had any prior discussions with NNPC.
“We will wait for NNPC to disclose the price it will sell its products and that will determine how marketers will react,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Chief Security Officer of Alesa Eleme, Dibia Isaiah, expressed joy that the facility in their community has resumed full operation.
Isaiah said: “Everybody is seeing it live and direct that production is on. I suspect it was the enemy of this rehabilitation that is peddling the rumours.
“But you can witness what is going on here, I am one of the loaders from the host community; I have loaded four trucks this morning. Tomorrow, we will load more, there is no time we will not load.
“This is a very busy period us. I wonder why people are giving out fake information just to run down the management. It is not good. I want to urge Nigerians to disregard such rumours.”
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