Militancy pushes government to turn to Niger oil.

The federal government has finalised plans of the construction of a 1,000 kilometer crude oil pipelines from Niger Republic to Kaduna Refinery.

This move was decided following the continued difficulty of transporting oil from the Niger Delta region to the Kaduna refinery due to the activities of militants and oil saboteurs.

Vanguard reports that Dr. Maikanti Baru who is the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) spoke at a town hall meeting with management and staff of the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) in Kaduna.

Baru said: “Due to challenges with the aged refinery and crude oil pipelines that had been breached severally, the operations of the refinery has been epileptic. This we are determined to resolve through various intervention methods, including evaluation of alternative crude oil supply from Niger Republic through building of a pipelines of over 1, 000 kilometers from Agadem to Kaduna. That effort is being championed by Mr. President himself.”

“It was important to explore alternative crude supply to KRPC, which has been affected by vandalism of pipelines and obsolescence, assuring that the initiative will reduce downtime of the plant and ensure optimal utilisation.

“The Corporation has already started engagements with the Nigerien Minister of Petroleum and the Chinese that are operating the field at Agadem (The Agadem Block is located in the East Niger Rift Basin)”

Baru promised that he would ensure the energy supply project to power industries in Kaduna is made possible with the completion of the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline.

Malam Idi Mukhtar who is the managing director of KRPC said the Fluid Cracking Catalytic Unit (FCCU) of the plant was restreamed in June.

“The Kerosene Hydrotreating Unit (KHU) rehabilitation is ongoing with the equipment overhaul and integrity checks. When operational the margin of value addition on kerosene and Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) will provide millions of naira in revenue, even at a throughput of 60 per cent.”