Nigeria has announced that the Warri oil refinery has resumed operations partially after nearly a decade of inactivity.
The refinery, with a daily capacity of 125,000 barrels (bpd), was shut down in 2015 due to maintenance work and a shortage of crude oil. It is currently operating at 60% capacity.
Mele Kyari, the head of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), confirmed the facility’s reopening, stating, “This facility is operational. We are not yet at 100% capacity.” This development is a key part of the government’s efforts to revitalize state-owned refineries that have been idle due to inefficiencies.
Earlier this year, the opening of the Dangote Refinery in Lagos, built by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, marked a significant increase in Nigeria’s refining capacity. The partial restart of the Warri refinery follows the recent reactivation of the Port Harcourt refinery, with a capacity of 60,000 barrels per day.
The government aims to fully restore the four state-owned refineries, including Warri, the Kaduna facility with a capacity of 110,000 barrels per day, and other units in the Niger Delta. Despite being Africa’s largest oil producer, Nigeria seeks to reduce its dependence on fuel imports and address inefficiencies in the energy sector through these revitalization efforts.
