After much anticipation, the 125,000 barrels per day Warri Refining & Petrochemicals Company (WRPC) in Warri, Delta State, has officially resumed operations. This announcement was made by Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), during a tour of the facility on Monday.
Before the tour even started, Kyari addressed the team, offering a glimpse of the optimism that the NNPCL’s have included in their plans. “We are taking you through our plant. This plant is running. Although it is not 100 per cent complete, we are still in the process. Many people think these things are not real. They think real things are not possible in this country. We want you to see that this is real,” Kyari said. We agree that it’s operational, but is it running at full capacity?
In attendance was Farouk Ahmen, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA). Located in Ekpan, Uwvie, and Ubeji in Warri, the petrochemical plant is designed to produce 13,000 million tons per annum (MTA) of polypropylene and 18,000 MTA of carbon black. With a history dating back to 1978, the WRPC was initially set up to serve the markets in southern and southwestern Nigeria. However, Nigeria happened to it, despite being in operation for decades, it seems the plant has been a work in progress for much of that time. “Warri should be done by Q1 (first quarter) 2024,” said Olufemi Soneye, the spokesperson for the NNPCL
We just hope that this not another case of “we’re almost there.” Because, it’s a sector that has promised much and delivered little, If this “real” progress is finally happening, we pray that it is sustainable.
