FIRE AT WARRI REFINERY, MEND CLAIMS RESPOSIBILITY

Fire at Warri refinery, MEND claims responsibility

October 23, 2013 by Chukwudi Akasike, Dayo Oketola and Okechukwu Nnodim

Warri Refinery
| credits: http://www.urhobotimes.com

The Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, was on Tuesday razed by fire.

Our correspondent gathered that the fire, which gutted the topping unit of the 35-year-old refinery, started about 11.00am, while crude oil refining process was on at the 125,000-barrel per day plant.

The entire Warri town and environs were said to have been engulfed by the smoke bellowing from the inferno. The fire was also said to have lasted for a few minutes before it was put off by fire fighters and safety officials of the company.

The cause of the inferno could not be immediately ascertained, but the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, a militant group, said it set the plant ablaze in fulfilment of its earlier threat to hit oil installations.

The acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Ms. Tumini Green, in a statement, confirmed that there was a fire outbreak in the topping unit of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company.

She, however, said the fire was promptly brought under control through the combined effort of the fire department and other workers of the refinery.

Green explained that the fire, which started about 11am, was successfully extinguished without any fatality.

She said the unit involved was promptly isolated and shut down for safety, adding that the exact cause of the fire was being investigated by the management of the refinery.

According to her, appropriate steps will be taken to forestall a future occurrence.

The NNPC spokesperson noted that preparations were under way for re-streaming of the affected unit.

“We wish to seize this opportunity to reassure members of the public that the NNPC continues to hold sufficient stock of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) and other petroleum products, and, therefore, there is no cause for panic buying,” Green said.

MEND, in an email statement signed by its spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, said its intention was to raze the entire refinery.

The group warned that as long as President Goodluck Jonathan continued to rely on an unsustainable and fraudulent amnesty programme, peace would continue to elude his government in the region.

The group said the attack was part of its ‘Hurricane Exodus’ and showed that the campaign was on course.

The statement read, “The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta takes responsibility for the sabotage this morning, Tuesday, October22, 2013 inside the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s refinery in Warri, Delta State of Nigeria.

“Hurricane Exodus was intended to burn down the entire refining facility. As long as President Goodluck Jonathan continues to rely on an unsustainable and fraudulent Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, peace and security will continue to elude his government in the region. Hurricane Exodus is on course.”

The Warri refinery, the first government wholly owned refinery in the country, was inaugurated in 1978. It was built to process 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day but was later remodelled to process 125,000 barrels per day in 1987.

It was essentially built to add value to some of the refinery by-products such as propylene rich stock and decant oil.

The refinery has since been operating below installed capacity due to outmoded equipment and poor turnaround maintenance history.