The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has announced the commencement of operations at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), which has a refining capacity of 125,000 barrels per day.
This development follows the recent start of operations at the Port Harcourt Refinery, which began processing 60,000 barrels per day.
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The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, disclosed this during an inspection tour of the facility on Monday. He was accompanied by the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, and other officials.
In a video shared by Channels TV, Kyari highlighted the progress made at the refinery, emphasizing that operations had commenced despite ongoing repairs.
“We are taking you through our plant. This plant is running. Although it is not 100 per cent complete, we are still in the process,” Kyari said.
He added, “Many people think these things are not real. They think real things are not possible in this country. We want you to see that this is real.”
Located in the Ekpan, Uvwie, and Ubeji areas of Delta State, the Warri Refinery is a key player in Nigeria’s petrochemical industry. It produces approximately 13,000 metric tonnes per annum (MTA) of polypropylene and 18,000 MTA of carbon black, serving markets in Nigeria’s southern and southwestern regions.
Commissioned in 1978, the facility has been a cornerstone of Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector. Despite initial projections for its mechanical completion by the first quarter of 2024, as stated by NNPCL spokesperson Olufemi Soneye, operations have commenced ahead of schedule.
The WRPC is one of four refineries managed by NNPCL, alongside the Port Harcourt Refining Company and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company.
