Back on Stream
By Maureen Chigbo
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Hope for regular supplies of petroleum products re-kindled as Kaduna and Warri refineries resume production
bubakar Yar'Adua, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is not a magician. But he has the magic wand with which he scales through difficult obstacles. His wand is his doggedness amidst strong opposition. He demonstrated this when he spiritedly argued for the reversal of the sale of Warri and Kaduna refineries, insisting that he could get them to work again within a record time. Then cynics scoffed at his idea. In fact, the Aliko Dangote-led Bluestar Consortium, had given the NNPC, 12 months to fix the refineries failing which it will resume its bid again. Bluestar had hoped that the corporation will fail. The company had paid $721 million for 51 percent stake in both Warri and Kaduna Refineries before the federal government reversed the sale. But in just eight months, Yar'Adua has proved the cynics wrong. Not only are the refineries which were dormant for more than two years working now, he has also repaired the Chanomi creek pipeline which was vandalised thus stopping the supply of crude to the refineries. How did he perform the magic? A combination of factors - dedicated leadership which carried his devoted staff along in their desire to prove that NNPC could manage the refineries if it is given the right support. When the refineries were handed back to NNPC in July 2007, the first priority of the management was to get contractors to fix the crude supply pipeline to Warri. Yar' Adua engaged Fenog Nigeria Ltd which is based in Warri to do the job at the cost of N49.5 million. He also got NNPC staff to work on the refineries to get them ready to receive crude once repairs were done. "Through the doggedness of Engineer Yar'Adua, he was able to negotiate with the local contractor successfully and got them to accept the contract figure for fixing the pipeline," said Onochie Anyaoku, group executive director, Refining and Petrochemical. That was sometime in August last year. And the pipeline work was programmed to last for six months. As soon as the contract was signed, "we in the refining sector saw it as a marching order that, come end of December, crude will be available for us to start refining. And, of course, that meant that immediately we had to start every activity needed - what we usually call pre-start-up activity," Anyaoku said.Since the plant had been idle for two years, NNPC officials had to de-mothball the plant. That is, isolation of each component and as much as possible to preserve them so that deterioration as a result of the plant not running will not be too significant. This activity usually takes three months. "We knew we were going to come back six months after we had to de-mothball it. We started from September to bring back those equipment into state of readiness to take crude. As the pipeline was being fixed, the refinery people were busy getting the refineries ready so that both the pipeline repair and the plant is readiness for start up will coincide by the end of December which was the initial deadline for getting the refineries to work."
This deadline could not be met because after the repair work, it turned out that re-commissioning the pipeline presented a unique challenge in the sense that so such damage has been done. "The re-commissioning of that pipeline was a discovery journey itself and it presented significant challenge. The pipeline was fixed on schedule but during the re-commissioning it was discovered that the pipeline had more than 40 black points and 90 pigs. It is a marvel in itself that we were able to remove those 90 pigs within the short time we did. But people who are not in the business don't understand what we do," Anyaoku said.
The refineries were out of production because it was only one pipeline that supplies crude to both Warri and Kaduna refineries. The NNPC management has learnt its lesson not to put all its eggs in one basket. It is now devising other options to ferry crude to the refineries in order to avoid a complete shut down should there be any pipeline break anywhere. There is the option to get the Shell Ughelli control crude. It is going to be available by July. The one that is blown up from Escravos is from Chevron. There is another option from Bonny light from Port Harcourt.. The line will be extended to Abudu so it can supply both Warri and Kaduna axis. Staff of WRPC and KRPC and many Nigerians, especially people in Kaduna, are happy that the refineries are back. This is because of the hardship which they suffered while the refineries stopped production. Nuhu Muhammed, chairman, Petroleum Tanker Drivers Association, Kaduna Branch, told Newswatch that "he is very happy because our drivers now have work to do." "We are really happy that the refineries are working and we thank God," Muhammed said. Olayinka Agoro, managing director of KRPC, said situation in Kaduna during the period was really terrible. "Throughout this period the situation was so bad in Kaduna. That marketing area as you saw it now bubbling was deserted. A lot of them were begging for arms to live. Even a lot of them sold their cars. It was so bad, terribly bad. Many families could not afford a square meal during the period. If you know the prayer that has gone out, then you will understand how we felt. The situation was pathetic," Agoro told Newswatch in his office in Kaduna. He added that textile companies in Kaduna closed shop because they could not get fuel from Kaduna Refinery for their operation. Henry Timothy Awan, chairman, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association PENGASSAN, Kaduna Refinery branch and Abdullahi Mohammed, chairman, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG , KRPC branch, captured the feelings of the entire staff when they said "it was a joyous moment because they have been able to prove cynics and detractors wrong. "We have been able to prove that given the feedstock and the enabling environment we are capable of running the plant safely and efficiently, " said Awan.
Levi Ajuonuma, group general manager, NNPC, also expressed happiness that the refineries are working, describing the event as a milestone in the annals of the corporation.
Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd, WRPC, and Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd, KRPC, were commissioned in 1978 and 1980, respectively. Currently the Warri Refinery is producing at 60 percent capacity while Kaduna Refinery is producing at 75 percent capacity. The Warri plant which had an initial capacity of 10,000 barrels per stream day of crude oil was de-bottlenecked in 1987 to a capacity of 125,000 barrels per stream day. The refinery produces liquefied petroleum gas, premium motor spirit, kerosene, automotive gas oil, fuel oil, polypropylene pellets, hard carbon black pellets, and power plant and utilities.
The Kaduna plant has capacity to produce 110,000 barrels per stream day. The refinery produces Liquefied petroleum gas, petrol, automotive gas oil, kerosene, fuel oil, sulphur and those from lubricating oil complex are base oils, asphalt and waxes. The lubricating oil complex of Kaduna Refinery is the first of its kind in West Africa and one of the largest in Africa.
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