The Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has given a 90-day ultimatum to the management of the Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company (WRPC) to commence full production at the facility.
WRPC has the capacity to process 125,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Kachikwu however said at the end of his inspection of the refinery and the adjoining Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) jetty and depot in Warri, Delta State, that he wants its management to ensure that the plant is streamed back to full active service within the deadline.
He noted that he will be ready to provide the management of the facility, the necessary support to enable them meet the target.
According to a statement from the Group General Manager Public Affairs of the NNPC yesterday in Abuja, Kachikwu said: “So, whatever you need to do to get your refinery back on track please do it now because this is the time.
“It’s a 90-day fast-track programme and whatever you need me to do to make that happen, let me know.”
He equally enjoined the management of the plant to resuscitate the petrochemicals plant which was commissioned in March 1988 and said on the state of PPMC storage facility that he will end the era of the company relying heavily on private depots to store a bulk of its petroleum products.
He said on this: “Some of the biggest storage facilities in this industry belong to PPMC; I recall when I was growing up in this industry we all got our products from PPMC, in fact the fear of PPMC then was the beginning of wisdom but now PPMC is putting products more in the tanks of marketers and letting them run the show but that is not going to continue under my watch.”
The statement also had the response of the acting Managing Director of WRPC, Solomon Ladenegan, to Kachikwu’s ultimatum.
Ladenegan in this regard pledged that measures have been put in place to ensure that the plant is back in full operation by early November in good time for the three-months fast-track moratorium.
NNPC stated that the 37-year- old refinery has been undergoing phased rehabilitation exercise and was shut last week due to some technical hitches in one of its units.
