Yemisi Izuora/Joseph Bakare
Warri refinery, which has been shut down temporarily since last week resumeS operations the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe explained that the decision to shut down the Warri refinery was because of insufficient crude oil in the system.
“They are supposed to have at least a 25-day sufficiency in the supply of crude. So because of the depletion in the volume of crude they have had to temporarily shut down,” said Alegbe.
“It was shut down last Monday. This is a temporary measure and it should be up and running by Tuesday,” he said.
The move had come a day after NNPC announced it had cancelled its contract for the delivery of crude to Nigeria’s refineries.
Oil sales account for about 70 percent of government revenue in Nigeria. It imports most of the fuel used by its 170 million inhabitants, however, because of its ageing, inefficient refineries in Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt.
The Corporation also said last week it has reduced the number of off-takers that will emerge after a competitive bid for the proposed 2015/16 crude oil term contract to 16 from 43.
The NNPC, which announced some measures aimed at rooting out mismanagement in Nigeria’s oil sector, said it had extended invitations to Mobil and Forte Oil, in addition to an earlier published list, to bid for the new proposed offshore processing agreement.