Shell resumes oil supply to Nigerian refinery

British multinational oil and gas company Shell says it has supplied crude oil from its Bonny export terminal in Rivers State, southern Nigeria, to the state-owned refinery in Port Harcourt, which is expected to start operations in the first quarter of 2024.

Shell Nigeria spokesperson Bamidele Odugbesan told Reuters by phone that the oil deliveries to the refinery were made this week.

The refinery is expected to process 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil before ramping up to its full capacity of 210,000 bpd later this year.

Nigeria’s state-run oil company, NNPC, announced at the start of 2024 that it planned to resume operations at the refinery many years after it shut down.

Western dominated sector

The West African nation has an abundance of crude oil deposits, but most of the exploration and production is operated by western companies.

This also extends to refinery servicing firms, with Nigeria's cabinet awarding a $1.5 billion contract to Italian firm Tecnimont to modernise the Port Harcourt oil refinery in March 2021.

"Future supplies from Bonny oil and gas terminal would be guided by the demand for the product," Shell's Bonny oil terminal manager Osita Nnajiofor said.

Port Harcourt is one of four state-owned refineries that have been mothballed for years but which the government is trying to revive to end the country's reliance on fuel imports.

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