The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has announced the reopening of the Port Harcourt refinery, after it was closed about six weeks ago.

The corporation also announced that it has increased its efforts to end the current fuel scarcity throughout the country.

According to Victor Adeniran, the Group Executive Director, Commercial and Investment, Warri and Kaduna refineries cannot recommence production now as the pipeline network distributing crude oil to the two refineries had been damaged and are yet to be fixed.

“The reasons the refineries are not working today is because the pipelines that are supposed to supply crude oil to them are not working. We are almost there. You can imagine if we have been able to put the Escravos; Warri pipeline into use, Warri refinery would have been up and running and part of this problem would have been alleviated. Port Harcourt is working because we have been able to fix the Bonny; Port Harcourt line. As I am talking to you, we are transporting crude oil from Bonny to Port Harcourt refinery.  Kaduna cannot work because Warri also supplies Kaduna with product,” he said.

He urge Nigerians to be part of the fight against pipeline sabotage and oil theft, adding that the current situation being faced in the supply of petrol throughout the country was as a result of pipeline vandalism.

Adeniran noted that since last Thursday, special preparation had been made for intervention trucks, with a transporting capacity of 60,000 litres of petrol, Vanguard reports.

Anita Fatunji