Reps frown at controversy trailing fuel subsidy refurn

….probe alleged diversion of Warri crude refinery

By Christiana Ekpa

The House of Representatives yesterday frowned at the controversy trailing the resuscitation of fuel subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) as well as allegation bothering on the diversion of crude oil at Warri Refinery, in Delta State.
The House equally expressed displeasure over the myriad of challenges facing the shutdown of the domestic refineries
The Green Chamber also mandated its Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) to investigate the activities of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on the operations of the haulage challenges, inadequate storage tanks affecting the Warri refining and petrochemical company in the bid to forestall the frequent shutting down of the refinery.
The House resolutions was as the result of the adoption of a motion on the ‘Commencement of Operations at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company,’ sponsored by Hon. Ben Igbakpa.
Leading the debate on the motion, Hon. Igbakpa who decried the challenges bedeviling the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company which was mandated to produce refined products from mainly local crude. The three main sections of the production department, namely: reforming, crude distillation and catalytic cracking units have operated for the past 8 years due to the efforts of its personnel.
“The House is aware that the Plants were operating at an output of around 115m3/hour which translates to about 68% installed capacity. Products that were being supplied from the Refinery included: Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or Petrol, Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), Kerosene (DPK), LPG, Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) for Ships and Industrial Fuel and Carbon Black.
“The House is disturbed that the refinery has not operate optimally due to allegedly top Management decisions of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to ground the plant for personal benefit from marketers importing products that can be produced in the refinery.
“The House is concerned that the plant had severally shut down due to haulage challenges, neglect in the evacuation of products, lack of functional or operational storage tanks and poor maintenance culture on the part of management which also constitutes another reason for the refinery non – functionality.
“The House is aware of the alleged plan to ground the plant from refining products by members of the top echelon of the Warri Refinery in collaboration with the Chief Operating Officer (COO) as well as diverting crude meant for refining.
“The House is also aware that when crude oil is delivered from Escravos tank farm for refining, the products are hoarded for about 14 days and thereafter diverted through the refinery jetty to interested buyers (or specific companies they have special interests in) who pay less. The resultant effects of this perceived economic sabotage is that the plant is brought down because no crude to refine as it has been diverted.
“The House is further aware that when it became apparent that the management of Warri Refinery have abandoned their responsibility of maintaining the Plant, the staff of the Refinery on several occasions contributed their monies to buy materials and tools to fix faulty equipment.
“The House is alarmed that currently, most of the spherical tanks used for storage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) have been leased out to Kwale Hydrocarbon Nigeria Limited (KHNL), a private company while other storage tanks are being leased out to private interests all in a bid to ensure that the Warri Refining and petrochemical company remains shut down indefinitely, even when the said Refinery has the production capacity of 75 %.