MEND claims responsibility for fire at Warri refinery

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.
[Punch]