PHRC Port Harcourt Refinery — Nigeria

PHRC Port Harcourt Refinery is a refinery in Nigeria. Its listed capacity is 210,000 BBL per day. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery. It is operated by NNPC Ltd. By capacity it ranks #2 among 9 oil refineries in Nigeria. It emits about 185,439 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE. That is 0.56% of the CO₂e from the 25 facilities in Nigeria that have an emissions figure in IndustryAtlas. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 90% below the national median for this sector.

Facility identity, coordinates and modelled CO2: Climate TRACE v6, id ct-3144039. Cited capacity and operating status are independently sourced below.

Capacity and operating-status verification

210,000 bpd two-refinery complex design capacity; not in stable commercial operation, with completion and restart work proposed in 2026

Checked 2026-07-19. Capacity is the cited nameplate, design or commissioned processing capacity, not actual daily throughput. Status is stated separately and reflects the latest source checked; planned expansions are excluded until commissioned. NNPC refinery capacity profile · NNPC restart statement reported by Channels, 4 May 2026

In context: how this facility compares

At 210,000 BBL per day, PHRC Port Harcourt Refinery is well above the median refinery in Nigeria (18,000 BBL per day). Subsector: oil-and-gas-refining. As refinery, it requires high process heat (typically 200–600°C) for its core industrial operations, supplied by boilers, furnaces or direct combustion. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery.

Capacity & CO₂-intensity comparison computed from Climate TRACE industrial facilities data; sector role based on engineering reference.

What 185,439 t CO₂e a year looks like

This facility's estimated annual CO₂e (Climate TRACE, modelled) in everyday equivalents from the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator:

Equivalencies: US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies. Emissions: Climate TRACE.

Capacity vs largest oil refineries in Nigeria

Listed capacity (BBL per day), Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0).

Operator

Operated by NNPC Ltd. All facilities by this operator →

Local climate

PHRC Port Harcourt Refinery sits in a tropical monsoon climate zone (Köppen Am), at 4.8°N in the northern hemisphere.

Köppen zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).

Site climate & environmental severity

This site sits in a corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.

In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1236 W/m² to ambient — roughly 0.95× the loss at a 20 °C reference. Reference-surface calculation at a 150 °C surface from WorldClim climate normals (ASTM C680 / ISO 12241) — an indicative per-climate comparison, not a measurement of this site’s specific equipment. Open method dataset: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20787408 (CC BY 4.0).

Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.

How it compares & nearby sites

The #2 largest of 9 oil refineries in Nigeria by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).

Nearby industrial sites

• NGA-Port Harcourt_methanol · Chemical Plant · 182,360 t CO₂
• Port Harcourt Fertilizer Complex · Chemical Plant · 3,150,986 t CO₂
• Indorama Eleme Petrochemical, Port Harcourt · Petrochemical · 414,464 t CO₂
• Onne (Port Harcourt) Fertilizer Complex · Chemical Plant · 1,643,014 t CO₂
• NGA-Obio/Akpor_methanol · Chemical Plant · 219,041 t CO₂
• Aradel Modular Refinery · Refinery · 48,269 t CO₂

Location

Coordinates 4.76379, 7.10067. View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions