Indications emerged on Tuesday that the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company may be shut down due to lack of crude oil for its operations.
It was learnt that the stock of crude in the crude refining plant could only last for the next few days.
The pipeline servicing the plant with crude oil from the production platforms of the American oil giant, Chevron Nigeria Limited, was blown up by suspected militants on Saturday, May 16.
The flow line, popularly known as Chanomi Creek pipeline, runs from the Abiteye fields of CNL in Escravos, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State to WRPC. The pipeline had been ruptured three times in the past three years.
The last repair of the pipeline gulped $57m.
Our correspondent learnt in WRPC on Tuesday that crude supply to the plant was cut off on Sunday, 24 hours after the militants launched premeditated attacks on the pipeline.
A source at WRPC said, “We have not received crude oil supplies since Sunday because of the damage to the Chanomi Creeks pipeline by suspected militants. The crude oil from the various fields of Chevron in Abiteye through the pipeline is the only source of crude supplies to the plant.
“Although we have crude in our tanks which we are using for our operation for now, what we have can only last for about one week. The management will have no other choice than to shut the plant down thereafter.”
Also, the Nigerian Gas Company has cut gas supplies to industrial users, especially in the northern part of the country. A few companies in the southern axis of the country may also suffer similar fate.
The NGC action was sequel to the destruction of the Escravos/Warri Gas Pipeline from the Escravos base of CNL to the Ekpan operational headquarters of the subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, the same day the Chanomi pipeline was blown up.
The NGC lost about 200million standard cubic feet of gas daily due to the incident.
Reliable sources in NGC told our correspondent on Tuesday that the Geregu Power Plant owned by the Power Holding Company in Kogi State, had been shut down due to lack of gas to operate it.
Meanwhile, tension persisted in the Niger Delta on Tuesday as the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, Operation Restore Hope, insisted that the ongoing military operation in Delta State would be carried out in other states of the region.
The Commander of JTF, Maj.-Gen. Sarkin-Yarkin Bello, in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Tuesday, said there was no limit to the scope and coverage of the military operation in the region.
He said the raid on the militant camps in Delta would come to an end on Wednesday (today), adding that all the militant camps in the creeks of the state would have been captured and taken over by the agency by Wednesday evening.
But he was quick to add that the JTF would not relax the grip on the coastal Gbaramatu communities in Warri South-West Local Government Area of the state.
He said the search for the 18 troops feared dead before and in the ongoing military operation would continue within and outside the state.
Bello gave the impression that the federal troops would proceed to other states in the region, especially Bayelsa, Ondo and River States in quick succession in desperation to rid the region of militancy and criminality.
He said, “We are almost through with the militant camps in Delta State. Possibly, the JTF would have wiped out all the militant camps in Delta State within the next 24 hours. By tomorrow (Wednesday), we would have uprooted all the militant camps in the creeks of Delta State.
“But we are not going to relax our operation in Gbaramatu and the entire region.”
Also, the JTF on Tuesday destroyed another militant camp allegedly operated by Tompolo in Gbaramatu axis of Delta State.