Port Harcourt, Kaduna refineries shut down over attacks by millitants

The impact of the renewed hostilities by Niger Delta militants may have started taking its toll on the nation’s oil and gas industry, as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Wednesday, announced the shutting down of the two refineries in Port Harcourt and the one in Kaduna.

According to a statement by the NNPC, the refineries were shut due to sabotage to crude pipelines. “The plants were shut on Sunday because of breaches to the Bonny-Okrika supply line to Port Harcourt and the Escravos-Warri pipeline to Kaduna.

“In response to the unexpected setback, we have activated comprehensive remedial measures to sustain the prevailing stability in the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country.”

The millitants resumed attacks on oil facilities shortly after a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos issued a bench warrant for the arrest of a former Niger Delta millitant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, also known as “Tompolo”, for his failure to appear before it in N34 billion fraud and money laundering case filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

It is believed in some quarters that millitants loyal to Tompolo are behind the renewed attacks though the former warlord dissociated himself from them.

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