Port Harcourt explosion caused by oil thieves – Official

The official said the explosion will not affect the Port Harcourt refinery.

The management of Port Harcourt Refining Company at Alesa-Eleme said on Monday that the explosion near the refinery on Sunday did not affect its operations.

Ralph Ugwu, the company’s Executive Director, Services, told journalists at Alesa-Eleme in Rivers that the explosion was caused by vandals siphoning petroleum product from a pipe at a creek near the refinery.

“Refining and jetty operations at the refinery were not affected by the explosion yesterday.

“I will like to say without fear of contradiction that what happened was a boat explosion involving vandals who were trying to steal products from our pipeline.

“That explosion had no effect whatsoever on our jetty and refining operations. Both the refinery and jetty are operating normally.

“I can only say that nemesis caught up with these vandals because their boat exploded and caught fire in the creek,” Mr. Ugwu said.

“Crude oil and premium motor spirit received from the jetty are ongoing. All the refinery operating units are working smoothly.

“We are committed as an international organisation to observe international best practices in health and environmental safety in all our operations,’’ he added.

Mr. Ugwu said the company “is constrained to make clarifications on the situation to make the public to be properly guided.

“Any misinformation could lead to product hoarding or panic buying and these are not healthy for our economy at this time.”

Mr. Ugwu also said that the company was not aware of any casualty recorded in the explosion because it happened in the creek.

(NAN)