Barely a month after announcing the commencement of the 125,000 barrels Warri refinery, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has said the facility is undergoing a planned routine maintenance programme aimed at ensuring optimal operations.
It also denied reports of an explosion at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company.
The company, in a statement signed by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, on Friday, said operations at WRPC were halted to carry out repairs for efficient service delivery.
He added that routine maintenance was progressing and operations would be back in the next few days.
The maintenance activities, which began on January 25, 2025, according to Soneye, are critical to ensuring the production of on-specification finished and intermediate products, such as Automotive Gas Oil and Kerosene.
The statement read, “NNPC Ltd wishes to clarify that there was no explosion at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company. Any reports suggesting otherwise are completely false.
“On January 25, 2025, operations at WRPC Area 1 were intentionally curtailed to carry out necessary intervention works on select equipment, including field instruments that were impacting sustainable and steady operations.
“These intervention works are essential to ensure the production of specification finished and intermediate products, particularly Automotive Gas Oil and Kerosene. The routine maintenance is progressing as planned, and Area 1 will be back in operation within the next few days.”
The NNPCL spokesperson further stated that AGO loading had been maintained at an average of eight trucks per day despite the ongoing interventions.
“Despite ongoing interventions over the past 11 days, AGO loading has been maintained at an average of eight trucks per day, with a sufficient supply available to sustain ongoing truck load-out operations.
“NNPC Ltd remains committed to ensuring uninterrupted product supply and appreciates the patience and cooperation of all stakeholders as it completes these essential maintenance activities,” he added.
Recall that the Warri Refinery returned to operation weeks after NNPC Limited restarted the 60,000 barrels per day at the Port Harcourt Refinery in November.
A total of $1.5bn was approved by the Federal Executive Council in August 2021 for rehabilitating Warri and Kaduna Refineries.
It’s focused on producing and storing critical products, including Straight Run Kerosene, Automotive Gas Oil, and heavy and light Naphtha.
Last week, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria said its members are now loading petroleum products from the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.
(PUNCH)
