By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says it is engaging reputable and credible Operations and Maintenance companies to operate and maintain the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company.
A statement from the NNPC on Friday confirmed this development.
The Warri refinery, located in Warri, Delta State, was commissioned in 1978. The facility is a complex conversion refinery with a nameplate distillation capacity of 6,250,000 MTA (125,000 barrels per day).
The refinery complex includes a petrochemical plant commissioned in 1988 with production capacities of 13,000 MTA of polypropylene and 18,000 MTA of carbon black.
The refinery is meant to supply markets in the south and southwest regions of Nigeria but hasn’t produced a drip of any fuel with successive governments planning to make it functional.
On its part, the Kaduna refinery was commissioned in 1980 to supply petroleum products to Northern Nigeria with a capacity of 50,000 barrels per day.
In 1983, the capacity was expanded to 100,000 barrels per day by adding a second 50,000 barrels per day crude train dedicated to the production of lubricating oils (lubes).
In 1986, the capacity of the first crude train was expanded to 60,000 barrels per day. The expansions have increased the current nameplate capacity of the refinery to 110,000 barrels per day. Also, it hasn’t been operational over the years.
Business Post understands that handing over the operations of the structures to private firms could ease tight government controls and bureaucratic inefficiencies.