The Minister of Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Kachikwu has announced tjat the Escravos-Warri-Kaduna pipeline has been recommenced the, feeding of crude to both the Kaduna and Warri refineries.

According to him, the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries have begun production while the Kaduna refinery will come on stream before the end of April. Both refineries are currently producing 5 million and 2 million litres of petrol respectively.

Kachikwu stated that the commencement of operations at the refineries is aimed at easing the fuel crisis in the country.

“Port Harcourt is back in production, Warri is back in production, Kaduna as of today is receiving crude and will soon be back in production. Lagos is easing off now from fuel scarcity and Abuja is doing the same thing, and once Kaduna begins production, the North will see a lot of improvement,” he said.

The Minister added that the plants at present operates at a 60% capacity and an investment of $700 million is needed to increase the capacity to 90%, the Oil and Gas year reports.

Anita Fatunji