The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has disclosed that the recently revamped Warri Refinery has been shut down for maintenance and will resume operations soon.
Olufemi Soneye, NNPC Chief Communications Officer, refuted reports of an explosion at the facility, describing it as false.
According to Soneye, operations at the facility’s Area 1 were intentionally curtailed to commence intervention works on select equipment, including field instruments that impacted sustainable and steady operations.
According to the statement, on January 25, 2025, operations at plant Area 1 were intentionally curtailed to carry out maintenance on some equipment, including field instruments, which impacted sustainable and steady operations.
The NNPC spokesman disclosed that the intervention works are essential to ensure the production of on-specific finished and intermediate products, especially diesel and Kerosene.
The state oil firm said the maintenance is ongoing as planned and Area 1 will be back in operation in a few days.
The statement said that diesel loading has been maintained at an average of eight trucks daily, with enough supply available to sustain ongoing truck load-out operations.
According to reports, NNPC is committed to ensuring uninterrupted product supply and asks for the patience and cooperation of all stakeholders.
The Warri refinery was revamped a few days before 2025 after more than 10 years without operation. The national oil firm says it now operates at 60% capacity.
The Nigerian government approved a contract to maintain the refinery in August 2021 at $1.48 billion.
Meanwhile, despite the three functional refineries, the NNPC and marketers imported about $5.5 billion worth of fuel in four months.
Between October 2024 and January 2025, Nigeria imported about 3.2 million metric tonnes of petrol and 890,485 metric tonnes of diesel.
The amount translates to about 4.29 billion litres of PMS and 1.153 billion litres of diesel when converted at 1,342 litres per metric tonne for PMS and 1,176 litres per metric tonne for diesel.
According to ThisDay’s reporting, the total value of Nigeria’s petrol and diesel imports in the four months exceeded N5.5 trillion, based on current average landing costs.
In January, NNPC and marketers imported a combined 633 million litres of PMS and diesel.
TimesNow.com.ng earlier reported that the Dangote Refinery has reached a peak production capacity of 33 million litres of petrol daily as it reached 550,000 barrels per day production.
The achievement proves that the facility has reached optimal production capacity. However, it is about 100,000 barrels per day short of reaching full capacity.
The report said marketers including BOVA, Eterna Oil, Rainoil and other dealers participated in the imports, alongside the state oil company.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
