Barely 35 days before the end of December, there is a cloud of uncertainty as to whether the promise by the federal government to bring the Port Harcourt Refinery on stream before the end of the year will still be a reality, Daily Trust Saturday reports.

On August 25, the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil) Heineken Lokpobiri, has said that the Port Harcourt Refinery (PHRC) will be ready for operation by December 2023.

This was contained in a release signed by Garba Deen Muhammad, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

The minister gave the assurance during an inspection tour of the project site in Port Harcourt. But stakeholders have expressed doubts about the feasibility of the December date from the reality on ground.

The Alesa Eleme location of the multibillion naira federal government- owned Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC) is a beehive of activities.

The entrance gate leading to Area Five, where the first phase of rehabilitation work of the refinery is taking place, has witnessed heavy human traffic, comprising mainly of both skilled and unskilled workers of various contracting firms working day and night to ensure that the December deadline given by the federal to hand over the first phase of the rehabilitation work is achieved.