Pipeline Attacks, Power Outages Cripple Refineries

This Day

22 December 2010

Pipeline Attacks, Power Outages Cripple Refineries

Nigeria's four refineries with combined capacity to refine 445,000 barrels per day of crude oil have been completely shut.

The implication is that Nigeria will now be importing all its petroleum products. The refineries have for years operated far below their capacity utilisation, due to attacks on their crude supply pipelines and the problem of epileptic power supply.

The Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Austen Oniwon, who confirmed the development yesterday, blamed the closure of Kaduna and Warri Refineries on the resurgence of violence in the Niger Delta region, which resulted in attacks on crude supply pipelines.

He was, however, silent on the cause of the closure of the 210,000 barrels per day Port Harcourt Refinery, the largest in Nigeria.