By Abigail Philip David
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has announced the resumption of operations at the 125,000-barrel-per-day Warri Refining & Petrochemicals Company (WRPC) in Delta State. This comes barely a month after the Port Harcourt Refinery, with a capacity of 60,000 barrels per day, also began operations.
NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, made the disclosure during a facility tour on Monday, which included the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed.
Addressing the inspection team, Kyari emphasized that while the refinery’s repairs are not yet fully complete, operations have commenced. He said, “This plant is running. Although it is not 100 per cent complete, we are still in the process. Many people think these things are not real. We want you to see that this is real.”
Located in Ekpan, Uwvie, and Ubeji areas of Warri, the refinery produces 13,000 metric tonnes per annum (MTA) of polypropylene and 18,000 MTA of carbon black. Built to serve markets in Nigeria’s southern and southwestern regions, the WRPC was commissioned in 1978 and remains under NNPCL’s management.
According to Olufemi Soneye, the NNPCL spokesperson, mechanical completion of the facility was initially scheduled for the first quarter of 2024. “Warri should be done by Q1 2024,” Soneye stated.
The WRPC is one of Nigeria’s four refineries, alongside the old and new Port Harcourt Refineries in Rivers State and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company in Kaduna State.
