The Warri and Kaduna refineries, subsidiaries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) are now operating at 20 per cent installed capacity on account of the damage done to the pipeline passing through the Chanomi Creek Channel near Escravos in Warri.
The Warri and Kaduna refineries, subsidiaries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) are now operating at 20 per cent installed capacity on account of the damage done to the pipeline passing through the Chanomi Creek Channel near Escravos in Warri.
The NNPC has also resorted to moving crude oil feedstock by barges to the refineries to ensure some measure of refining takes place to keep the refineries working.
Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, General Manager in-charge of Group Public Affairs Department of the NNPC, said weekend that keeping the refineries working underscored the ingenuity of the management of the corporation.
�If we are not a management that is strategic, that is thinking, we could have thrown up our hands and said because Chanomi Creek is down, the Warri and Kaduna refineries should close down permanently,� he said, adding: �But what we are doing is to say because these refineries had just been refurbished before the Chanomi Creek pipeline was blown up, we cannot fold our hands and do nothing. Those refineries were operating at an average of 85 per cent installed capacity.
�This damage to the pipeline at the Chanomi Creek is a big challenge. We understand that would take about 18 months to fix, but the operators cannot fold their hands. That is why they are finding a way to give Kaduna and Warri the crude they need, no matter how small and use it to operate,� he said.
The crude feedstock supplied to both refineries, he said, was helping in the production of Premium Motor Spirit and kerosene, adding that the refineries work for two weeks and shut down for another two weeks. �It is better than a 100 per cent shut down.
�But the challenge there is that it would now make us depend more on importation. Before the crisis in the Niger Delta, we cut down on importation by over 50 per cent, but now because we have to maintain the level of product needs in the country, we have to increase importation. If we cut by 50 per cent, we are increasing by 10 to 15 per cent. What the refineries are producing is just another 20 per cent,� he said.
On how soon the Chanomi Creek pipelines would be fixed, Dr. Ajuonuma said the corporation was looking at the third quarter of the year.
He also lamented the brazen vandalism of a petroleum products pipeline operated by the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) in Lagos last week, noting that its quick intervention had prevented a tragedy on the same scale as the Jesse�s. He urged people to join hands with NNPC to help protect the products pipelines, describing them as national assets.
Addressing journalists who toured the affected but rehabilitated portion of the pipeline, weekend, Mr. Osiyeme, Area Manager, PPMC said contrary to claims in some quarters, there was actually a deliberate criminal breach of the pipeline by yet to be identified vandals.
�A clamp was inserted on the line to siphon the fuel and valve was put to link the tanker. It is not a question of the pipes being weak or corroded, it is wilful damage. There was a deliberate clamping on those pipelines. What happened was a result of encroachment of NNPC pipeline,� he said.
He also said there were buildings on the pipeline�s right-of-way and that this was not acceptable since compensation had been paid for the land many years ago.