The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has denied claims of an explosion at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), calling such reports completely false.
In a statement on Friday, NNPC’s chief corporate communications officer, Olufemi Soneye, clarified that the refinery’s operations were deliberately scaled down on January 25, 2025, to carry out necessary maintenance work. He said that there was no incident of an explosion at the facility.
Soneye also explained that the intervention focused on select equipment and field instruments affecting stable operations. The maintenance efforts, he noted, are crucial to ensuring the production of high-quality finished and intermediate products, including Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and kerosene.
Despite the ongoing maintenance, the refinery has maintained an average daily loading of eight trucks of AGO over the past 11 days. Soneye assured that there is sufficient supply to sustain loading operations, with Area 1 of the refinery expected to resume full operation within days.
The Warri refinery restarted production in December 2024, though its full rehabilitation is still ongoing.
