The Warri Refining & Petrochemicals Company (WRPC) in Warri, Delta State, is now operating at a capacity of 125,000 barrels per day.
During a tour of the facility on Monday, Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), revealed this.
The improvement comes one month after the Port Harcourt refinery in Rivers State was restored.
In a video released by Channels TV on Monday, Kyari was seen speaking to a group of tour participants, among them Farouk Ahmed, the CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
Kyari clarified prior to the start of the tour that the inspection was intended to demonstrate to Nigerians the extent of the work that had been done thus far.
“This plant is running,” Kyari said. We are still in the process even though it is not entirely finished.
“A lot of people believe that these things are not true. They think real things are not possible in this country. We want to show you that this is real.
The petrochemical plant, which is situated in Ekpan, Uwvie, and Ubeji, Warri, generates 18,000 metric tonnes of carbon black and 13,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene annually (MTA).
The WRPC was constructed to supply markets in southern and southwestern Nigeria and was put into service in 1978 under the management of NNPCL.
NNPCL spokesperson Olufemi Soneye stated that the facility’s mechanical completion was originally planned for the first quarter of 2024.
Soneye said, “Warri should be finished by Q1 (first quarter) 2024.”
Along with the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company in Kaduna State and the old and new Port Harcourt Refining Company in Rivers State, the WRPC is one of Nigeria’s four refineries.
