He alleged that the truck out petroleum products from Port Harcourt Refinery were from old stock, not freshly refined products.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has reacted to allegations of lying to Nigerians.
Recall that Timothy Mgbere, the Secretary of the Alesa community stakeholders had accused NNPCL of lying about its operations at the Port Harcourt Refinery.
Mgbere had in an interview on Arise Television on Thursday claimed that the recently revitalised resumption of refining operations and truck-out of petroleum products were filled with lies.
He alleged that the truck out petroleum products from Port Harcourt Refinery were from old stock, not freshly refined products.
However, in a statement on Friday, the Spokesperson of NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye described the claims as a “crass display of ignorance.
He explained that while the company would typically avoid responding to such misinformation, it was compelled to set the record straight to prevent public confusion.
Soneye clarified that the two refineries have been integrated, sharing utilities such as power, storage tanks, and a single terminal for product loading.
The company highlighted contradictions in Mgbere’s statements, noting that while he claimed the old refinery was not operational, he also suggested that “old stock” PMS from the facility was being loaded at the new refinery’s gantry.
NNPC questioned how the alleged “old stock” could have been moved to the shared facility if the old refinery was non-functional.
“There are a number of other wild claims made by the man, one of which was that the refinery was producing 1.4 million barrels per day. The nameplate capacity of the refinery is 60,000 barrels of oil per day. It is currently producing 90 percent throughput, which translates to straight-run gasoline (Naptha) belnded into 1.4 million litres of PMS, aside from other products like diesel and kerosene.
“We call on the general public to disregard the claims of the self-acclaimed ‘community person’ which are obviously borne out of sheer mischief and blatant display of ignorance,” the statement added.
Recall that on Tuesday, NNPC announced the commencement of Port Harcourt refinery at 70 percent capacity.