Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, urged stakeholders this weekend to adopt an integrated approach to check challenges faced in the oil sector.
The minister spoke at an inspection of the Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company (WRPC) at the weekend, charging the managers and workers of the 34-year-old plant to join forces with all stakeholders as the Federal Government seeks to address the problems plaguing the nation’s refineries in a holistic manner. .
According to her, “while we pursue the challenge of improving refining capacity, we must understand the various components of what we need to do to ensure that our drive to making our refineries efficient and profitable comes to fruition.”
Describing WRPC as one of the nation’s most important oil and gas facilities, the minister commended the courage and commitment of workers who through the years have defied the odds to keep the plant running.
She noted that the revitalization plan would not only target the equipment but would also focus on improved manpower development through sustainable skill and professional upgrade both at home and abroad for the operators of the plant. .
The Managing Director of WRPC, Simon Ehiemua, lamented pipeline vandalism as well as the growing cases of robbery attacks and kidnap of WRPC personnel. .
Providing a breakdown of recorded cases of attacks on the crude supply as well as product evacuation pipelines, Ehiemua stated that the activities of pipeline vandals posed a massive threat to the operation of the refinery. .
“In 2011, we recorded 39 breaks on the 68 kilometres crude supply pipeline from Escravos to WRPC. These include seven blast points, 30 valve insertions and two nipple plantings,’’ he said.
To mitigate the effect of these attacks, the WRPC arranged a backup supply of about 30,000 barrels of crude per day through marine vessels.
The situation was even more compounded in the product evacuation pipeline as a total of 91 hacksaw cuts and 20 valve insertion attacks were recorded in 2011, bringing the total to 111 within the period.
The minister also visited the adjoining Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) depot as well as the crude reception and product evacuation facilities.
Also at the weekend, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) assured that the perpetrators of the subsidy fraud would not escape the wrath of the law.
According to the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde, those who hide under the courts to stop their investigation may no longer have any sanctuary to hide under as moves are underway to vacate such orders to enable the commission to perform its statutory duties.