Posted by By EMMANUEL OGOIGBE, Warri on
The Nation's convulsive supply of Petroleum products would soon be over as the Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit of the Kaduna refinery will next week be on stream just as the Port-Harcourt refinery is running steadily well.
The Nation's convulsive supply of Petroleum products would soon be over as the Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit of the Kaduna refinery will next week be on stream just as the Port-Harcourt refinery is running steadily well.
With this cheery development, the problem being encountered with the production of diesel and kerosene will be drastically reduced.
Sign that the prevailing nationwide scarcity of diesel and kerosene would soon become a thing of the past was rekindled on Wednesday as the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company resumed production.
Similarly, the pioneer refining plant attained 80 per cent of its installed capacity of 120, 000 barrels of crude oil per day, for the first time in two years on Wednesday.
Investigation revealed that WRPC pumped diesel and kerosene to the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), for distribution to the public for the first time since 2006, during the same period.
Following the development oil dealers at Warri refinery depot were elated as they described it as most welcome and a big relief to the suffering masses who have been without the product for some time now.
It would be recalled that WRPC was re-steamed in February 2008 after its closure for two years due to the vandalisation of its crude-supply pipeline by the Niger Delta militants.
It was gathered that completion of maintenance on some of the component parts of the plant led to the resumption of kerosene and diesel on Wednesday.
Already, Daily Sun learnt that the Managing Director of WRPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, has conveyed the latest development in the plant to the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Abubakah Yar'Adua.
'Warri refinery is working at 80 per cent of its installed capacity for the first time in the past two years. The plant resumed with production of PMS (petrol) when it was re-steamed in February but it has also commenced production of diesel and kerosene.
'With this development in WRPC, the problem of kerosene and diesel would soon be over throughout the country,' the source at NNPC's Zonal Office, Warri, who craved anonymity, said.
Further investigation by our correspondent in NNPC further showed that the repair of the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit of Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company, which had impaired optimal performance by the plant, had been completed.