Emmanuel-Ibe-Kachikwu, Petroleum Minister (State)

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) has announced the operational shut down of Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries owning to crude supply challenge arising from recent attack on vital crude oi l pipelines.

In a statement signed by the Group Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ohi Alegbe said the refineries were shut simultaneously on Sunday after the Bonny-Okrika crude supply line to the Port Harcourt Refinery and the Escravos-Warri crude supply line to the Kaduna Refinery suffered breaches.

The statement said before the closure, the Port Harcourt Refinery was recording a daily Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) yield of over 4.1 million litres while Kaduna Refinery was posting a daily petrol production of about 1.3 million litres.

It noted that the Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company (WRPC) was still on stream and producing a little above 1.4 million Litres of petrol per day.

However, the Corporation assured Nigerians that it had put in place strategies to guarantee unimpeded country-wide availability of petroleum products,.  “In response to the unexpected setback, we have activated comprehensive remedial measures to sustain the prevailing stability in the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country,” the statement said.