Nigerian National Petroleum closes two refineries following recent pipeline attacks

The Nigerian National Petroleum (NNPC) has closed its Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries in the southern Niger Delta due to crude supply problems following recent attacks on oil pipelines.

The company was not clear as to how long the refineries would be closed.

Reuters quoted NNPC saying in a statement: "The plants 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."

Prior to the closure, the Port Harcourt refinery was processing over 4.1 million litres of petrol per day while Kaduna was producing petrol of about 1.3 million litres.

NNPC said that the company initiated various remedial measures following the disruption.

Over the weekend, militants attacked Nigeria Gas Company’s pipeline that is linked to Chevron Nigeria’s facility located at Escravos.

The attack is expected to impact negatively on the Olorunsogo NIPP plant which has a capacity of 600MW.

Commenting on the attack, Nigeria’s minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Fashola said: "The sabotaged gas pipeline which contributes to the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) has led to a loss of 160mmsfcd of gas daily.

"This is in addition to losses to be incurred daily from affected power generation ($1,988,223 or N391,680,000 daily)."

Nigeria, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) depends on oil exports for around 95% of its foreign earnings.