NNPC shuts refineries after pipeline attacks

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said on Wednesday three of the country'sfour refineries were not operating because pipelines feeding the facilities were damaged in militant sabotage attacks.

The company said vandalism of pipelines led it to shut down the Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries but it did not say how long they had been out of action.

Nigeria usually imports around 85 percent of its fuel needs but purchases from foreign suppliers may increase as the refinery closures are likely to cut out most of the country's 445,000 barrel per day (bpd) refining capacity.

The NNPC said its managing director visited the army chief of staff on Tuesday and requested more surveillance on the Bonny and Escravos crude pipelines, which feed the refineries.

"The rate of the crude pipeline vandalisation from Bonny to Port Harcourt refinery and the Escravos to Warri and Kaduna refinery is alarming and I wish to request the army to concentrate on these pipelines as they are critical to our operations," Austen Oniwon said.

The choking off of Nigeria's local oil product supply adds to signs that a resurgence in violence by militants in the oil-producing Niger Delta region is having a significant impact on Africa's largest oil and gas industry.

U.S. energy firm Chevron said this week it had suspended production from a major pipeline after a sabotage attack, while fellow oil majors Shell and Exxon have also suffered outages recently.

Pipelines

A military task force comprising the army, navy and airforce has had a number of successful operations, including arrests of key gang leaders, but it remains difficult to guard against pipeline sabotage attacks.

Onshore oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta, a network of shallow creeks opening into the Gulf of Guinea, is extremely exposed, with thousands of kilometres (miles) of pipeline passing through remote and thickly forested terrain.

Nigeria's oil and gas output has been held back for years by strikes on pipelines and infrastructure by the militant groups in the Niger Delta who say they are fighting for a fairer share of the oil wealth generated in their backyard.

But the line between militancy and crime is blurred as gang leaders have grown rich on the spoils of kidnapping for ransom and the theft of industrial quantities of oil.

At its peak almost four years ago, violence knocked out more than a quarter of the OPEC member's crude production, but an amnesty brokered last year by President Goodluck Jonathan brought more than a year without attacks.

Source:http://234next.com/