Nigeria says its Warri Refinery is back after a decade of closures

Nigeria said on Monday it had resumed some operations at its Warri oil refinery after almost a decade of shutdowns, one of a string of long-running failures that have left Africa's largest crude exporter importing most of its fuel.

The government has promised to revive its moribund refineries which have been hit by years of neglect, damage and accusations of mismanagement.

“This plant is running. We have not completed 100%,” Mele Kyari, head of the state oil firm NNPC, said during a tour of the facility with government officials, regulators and journalists.

The 125,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery — whose closure in 2015 was blamed on disrepair and crude shortages — was now running at 60% capacity, according to a statement by presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga.

Four state-owned refineries with a combined capacity of 445,000 bpd — the 110,000 bpd Kaduna plant in the north and three units in the oil-rich Niger Delta including Warri, have been closed for years.

Last month, the NNPC — the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation — said it had revived the 60,000 bpd Port Harcourt refinery in the Niger Delta. It had planned to revive all four this year.

A privately-owned 650,000 bpd Dangote oil refinery built by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote in the capital Lagos started operations this year.

Reuters