An oil refinery in the southern Nigerian port city of Warri has been shut down because of damage to its crude oil supply pipeline, a company spokesperson said on Sunday.
The spokesperson said the refinery, which has a daily production capacity of 125 000 barrels of crude, was shut down last week because the oil supply from the Escravos pipeline was unavailable.
He said unknown vandals had damaged the pipeline and the company was yet to fix the fault.
He, however, added that the closure would not lead to petrol scarcity.
“There is no cause for alarm, the NNPC [Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation] has enough stocks of petrol, diesel and kerosene to meet demand,” he said.
Attacks on oil pipelines are common in oil-rich Nigeria.
On January 11, an unidentified gang sabotaged Shell’s Trans-Ramos pipeline in the Brass Creek area, forcing the company to halt production equivalent to 106 000 barrels per day. – AFP