NNPC shuts Kaduna, Port Harcourt refineries over vandalism

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced the operational shutdown of the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries owing to crude oil supply challenges arising from recent attacks on vital crude oil pipelines.

In a statement released Wednesday by Ohi Alegbe, NNPC’S group general manager, group public affairs division, the Corporation informed that the plants were shut simultaneously on Sunday after the Bonny-Okrika crude supply line to the Port Harcourt refinery and the Escravos-Warri crude supply line to the Kaduna refinery suffered breaches.

The NNPC stated that before the shutdown of operations, the Port Harcourt refinery was recording a daily yield of premium motor spirit (PMS) in excess of 4.1 million litres, while the Kaduna refinery was posting a daily petrol production of about 1.3 million litres.

The statement further noted that the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) is still on stream and producing a little above 1.4 million litres of petrol daily.

The Corporation however assured that it had put in place strategies to guarantee unimpeded countrywide availability of petroleum products.

“In response to the unexpected setback, we have activated comprehensive remedial measures to sustain the prevailing stability in the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country,” the NNPC said.