THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has said that the peace initiative of the federal government has raised the capacity utilisation of its three refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna in recent times.

Maikanti Baru, NNPC group managing director, who disclosed this in Abuja, today during an interactive session with a delegation from the United Kingdom Royal College of Defence Studies, said refining activities peaked at 10million barrels of crude oil in the first quarter of 2017 alone, as against 8million and 24million barrels for the entire years of 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Baru, who was represented at the event by Saidu Mohammed, chief operating officer, Gas and Power, stated that apart from the upbeat in the refineries activities attributable to the peace initiative which has lowered the rate of attacks on oil installations, the corporation has recorded increase in crude oil production to 2million barrels per day in recent times.

“As a nation, we have tried all available options, including military, to tackle the security challenge. We have discovered that guns are not as effective as the engagement option. The peace we are enjoying now is as a result of the engagement with stakeholders in the region led by the Acting President. We intend to build on that to achieve a lasting peace”, he said.

He said having been satisfied with the prevailing respite in the Niger Delta which has engendered a conducive environment for oil and gas production operations in the past few months, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) would do all it could to build on the gains of the Federal Government engagement with stakeholders in the region to deepen and sustain the peace.

Earlier, the team lead of the UK Royal College of Defence Studies delegation, Major General Craig Lawrence, said the group was in NNPC to learn how the corporation was generating wealth and prosperity for the country in the face of daunting challenges.

He thanked the management of NNPC for sparing the time to explain to the delegation the workings of the corporation.

Members of the delegation included United Kingdom, France, Pakistan, and Thailand nationals, among others.

—  May 16, 2017 @ 19:42 GMT