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Warri, Kaduna Refineries Shut Down

This Day (Lagos)

July 16, 2001
Posted to the web July 16, 2001

As the shortage of petroleum products persists in the country, the Warri and Kaduna refineries have been shut down as a result of the first major crude oil pipeline vandalisation at Kpokpo Creek, Escarvos, near Warri.

The PPMC Warri Area Manager, Mr. Martin Oti, told a team of journalists and some NNPC officials on a fact finding mission at the weekend in Escravos, that the closure of the refineries was imperative in view of the stoppage of pumping process of crude oil from Chevron Escravos terminal to Warri Refinery which in turn pumped same to Kaduna refinery.

He said that "an explosive-like object" was used to destroy the concrete-covered pipeline which pushed it inward resulting to a spill of more than 10,000 barrels of crude oil before the situation was contained.

Oti said that an act of sabotage could not be ruled out since a search conducted in the area revealed that an explosion occurred on the pipeline, which was about 16mm under water.

"The unpatriotic act would impact negatively on the nation in the areas of refining, supply and distribution of petroleum products, resulting in heavy economic loss," he said.

The area manager noted that repair work at the damaged site would soon be effected since Belfinger and Berger construction companies had been mobilised to begin work immediately.

He expressed optimism that the repair work would not last more two weeks when normal operations of the two refineries would resume.

A spokesman for the Ijaw community at Gbramatu near Kpokpo told journalists that they would not allow any repair work at the site of the explosion unless adequate compensation and immediate relief materials were given to them. The Ijaw and Itsekiri communities living around the area alleged that the NNPC broke the pipeline deliberately in order to pollute the water thereby depriving them of their means of livelihood (fishing).

Pipeline vandalisation of refined petroleum products had caused the NNPC a net loss of more than N4 billion last year and had claimed more than 2,000 lives and destroyed property worth billions of naira in the oil-rich Niger-Delta between 1998 and 2000.

Incidents of vandalisation of petroleum pipelines have been on the increase in recent years.

One of the worst cases was recorded in Jesse community in 1998 in Delta State where scores of people were burnt beyond recognition after a vandalised pipeline went into flames.

Recently, the Federal Government awarded a $29 million contract for the refurbishment of the Kaduna Petroche-mical and Refining Company.

This twisted statement describes Nigerian govts behaviors and gestures toward the people whom they'd been siphoning off their oil resources without development and compensation.

The issue still remains Biafran Oil.

The earlier the freedom the better.

We will be there soon.

Chukwu no fu! Fa ga egbusi onwe ha.

On Aburi we stand

The issue still remains Biafran Oil.

The earlier the freedom the better.

We will be there soon.

Chukwu no fu! Fa ga egbusi onwe ha.

On Aburi we stand

Chido Okafor And Mirian Ndikanwu
Warri

SNAKY queues may soon become common sight at the filling stations again unless the timely call for the immediate Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the Warri refinery is urgently heeded.

The call was made yesterday by NUPENG's Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) chapter chairman Yahaya Mathias when the NNPC Group Managing Director, Mr. Jackson Gaius-Obaseki, visited the refinery.

NUPENG's chairman said that unless the TAM is urgently carried out, the refinery may shut down since the servicing was due five years ago.

Mathias told Gaius-Obaseki that the explosion which shut down the plant for a prolonged time in 1992 may re-occur if the Turn Around Maintenance was not quickly done, explaining that the burners, boilers and several vital components at the refinery are all dilapidated.

According to Mathias, the last time a Turn Around Maintenance was carried out on the refinery was in 1994. "The Warri refinery, he said, was running just by God's grace."

He, therefore, appealed to the NNPC managing director to "avert an imminent problem" at the refinery.

Earlier, the workers through the WRPC, PENGASAN's chapter chairman, Gilly Gyado, had listed the refinery's problems to include: poor implementation of policies, jostling workers' positions and placing them on "stand-by" and what he described as "apartheid operational tactics by the WRPC's management."

Obaseki told the workers that the Turn Around Maintenance of the refinery had long been initiated, saying that funds had been set aside for that purpose. He expressed surprise that the Managing Director of WRPC, Dr. Williams Ayangbile, had not ensured that the maintenance took off.

Obaseki added: "I gave the management (of Warri Refinery) till the end of this month because if things are not moving at a fast rate, they will go."

Obaseki, however, expressed confidence in the WRPC executive, saying that they have been asked to make appreciable progress in running the refinery.

He warned the workers not to issue any threat to the WRPC's management, urging them to apply wisdon on crucial issues so as not to disrupt the steady flow of petroleum products.

Meanwhile, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has given a 10-day ultimatum to the Zamfara State government to release the zonal Chairman of the Petroleum and Tankers Drivers branch of the union, Mr. Bello Babanyara, or face a nation-wide strike.

Speaking with journalists yesterday in Lagos, the NUPENG's National Chairman, Mr. Brisibae Awe, said Babanyara was arrested by the Zamfara State government for allegedly expressing his views on the elimination of black market in the oil sector in Kebbi, Zamfara and Sokoto states.

Awe also expressed disappointment over the recent sack of all NUPENG's union members by Bellbop Nigeria Limited. He stressed that NUPENG cannot fold its arms and watch helplessly while fellow Nigerians subject its members to slavish conditions.

"It must be emphasised that NUPENG decided to suspend its strike in order to give room for the mediators to ensure that the issues were amicably resolved without necessarily subjecting innocent citizens to the crippling effects which such a strike could have on them. "But it appears that some Nigerians who are big players in the oil and gas industry have decided to rubbish the union's patriotic efforts," he bemoaned.