Progress in Nigerian fuel crisis

The Escravos-Warri-Kaduna pipeline has been re-commissioned, feeding crude to both the Kaduna and Warri refineries, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation group managing director Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said over the weekend.

Kachikwu added that the Port Harcourt refinery Warri refineries are up and running, with the Kaduna to follow before the end of April. Producing 5 million and 2 million litres of petrol respectively, the resumption of operations at the mentioned refineries is looked at the combat the fuel crisis that crippled much of the country over the past weeks. “Port Harcourt is back in production, Warri is back in production, Kaduna as of today is receiving crude and will soon be back in production. Lagos is easing off now from fuel scarcity and Abuja is doing the same thing, and once Kaduna begins production, the North will see a lot of improvement,” Kachikwu said in comments over the weekend.

While the restart of refining operations is good news, the plants currently operate at 60% capacity. According to Kachikwu, an investment of USD 700 million would be required to raise capacity to 90%.

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