NNPC’s silence on Kaduna pipeline dilemma raises questions amid refinery overhaul.

DDM News

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) has remained tight-lipped about the status of its crude oil pipeline connecting Southern Nigeria to Kaduna.

This silence comes despite ongoing repairs to the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries.

While the company has provided assurances that the refineries are undergoing comprehensive overhauls designed to meet global standards, it has not disclosed how crude oil will be transported to Kaduna during or after the repairs.

This lack of transparency has left analysts questioning how the much-needed fuel supply will be maintained.

The prolonged period of neglect regarding the pipelines has raised further concerns.

At a recent media briefing in Abuja, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, discussed the milestone achievement of reaching 1.8 million barrels per day (mbopd) of crude oil production.

However, Diaspora digital media DDM gathered that there was no mention of the crucial infrastructure connecting the refineries in the south to Kaduna.

This omission has sparked speculation about the actual state of the pipelines.

It has also raised questions about the feasibility of sustaining operations without them.

For more than thirty years, the pipelines connecting the southern oil fields to the Kaduna Refinery have received little to no major repairs or upgrades.

Given this neglect, analysts are questioning how the NNPC plans to transport crude oil to Kaduna without pipeline, especially as the ongoing refinery overhaul project progresses.

There is growing concern that the pipelines may no longer be viable for transporting the required crude oil.

This could impact the ability to keep the Kaduna Refinery operational.

In response to these concerns, NNPC Ltd. has assured the public that the ongoing repairs to the Port Harcourt Refinery, with a capacity of 60,000 barrels per day (bpd), are not simply routine turnaround maintenance (TAM).

Instead, the company claims that a comprehensive overhaul is underway.

This overhaul is intended to bring these refineries up to world-class standards.

The company also emphasized that similar efforts are being made at the second Port Harcourt Refinery and the Kaduna Refinery.

The goal is to enhance their operational capabilities.

However, these reassurances have not quieted the doubts expressed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

In a recent statement, Obasanjo criticized the NNPC’s claims regarding the rehabilitation of its refineries.

He pointed to advice from Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), which had questioned the refinery’s long-term viability due to concerns about corruption.

Obasanjo also suggested that the NNPC’s claims of operational refineries may be misleading.

This criticism casts further doubt on the NNPC’s transparency in communicating the true state of its facilities and pipeline is operation.

In response to these criticisms, Olufemi Soneye, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC Ltd., defended the company’s achievements in rehabilitating the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.

He reiterated that these overhauls were substantial, not the typical turnaround maintenance that had been carried out in the past.

He also highlighted the company’s ongoing efforts to modernize other refineries, including the Kaduna Refinery.

These efforts aim to ensure sustainable operations and bring them up to international standards.

Despite these statements, the NNPC’s silence on the critical issue of pipeline infrastructure remains a point of contention.

With the ongoing repairs to key refineries, the continued challenges of maintaining Nigeria’s refining capacity persist.

Questions about how the NNPC plans to address the pipeline issues that have been neglected for so long remain unanswered.

Without a clear answer, many Nigerians are left wondering whether the country’s oil infrastructure can truly meet the demands of the future.

Or if these pipeline repairs are simply cosmetic, aimed at addressing short-term concerns rather than fixing deep-rooted structural problems.

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