Explosion Rocks Warri Refinery, MEND Claims Responsibility
The Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, was on Tuesday razed by fire. It was gathered that the fire, which gutted the topping unit of the 35-year-old refinery, started about 11.00am, while crude oil refining process was on at the 125,000-barrel per day plant. The entire Warri town and environs were said to have been engulfed by the smoke bellowing from the inferno. The fire was also said to have lasted for a few minutes before it was put off by fire fighters and safety officials of the company. The cause of the inferno could not be immediately ascertained, but the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, a militant group, said it set the plant ablaze in fulfilment of its earlier threat to hit oil installations. The acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Ms. Tumini Green, in a statement, confirmed th...