Nigeria's state
oil company has shut down crude oil flows to two of its four refineries
after weekend attacks on pipelines, a company spokesman said on Monday,
frustrating government hopes to start weaning the country from
expensive imports.
The refineries in the northern city of Kaduna and Warri, in the southern Niger Delta, were affected, said Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation spokesman Ohi Alegbe.
"We have shut down flows for now, the military are on top of the matter," he said, without offering details of the attacks.
Nigeria
is plagued by violence, corruption and poor infrastructure. Despite
being Africa's largest crude exporter, it imports almost all its
gasoline but officials had hoped national refineries would produce up to
30 percent of its gasoline needs in the first quarter of 2016.
The
125,000 barrel per day (bpd) Warri refinery and the 110,000 bpd Kaduna
refinery had resumed output in December after several months of
maintenance. The Kaduna refinery receives its feedstock oil via the
Warri refinery.
Nigeria also has a third refining
complex with two plants in the southern oil hub of Port Harcourt,
although only the newer of the two plants is currently functioning.
No
group claimed responsibility for the weekend attacks, which follow last
week's arrest warrant for former militant leader turned businessman
Government Ekpemupolo, known as Tompolo, as part of a crackdown on
corruption. Several former top government officials have been charged
with fraud.
A statement issued by the military's operation Pulo Shield in the oil-rich Niger Delta region vowed to hold "community leaders responsible for any act of sabotage".
"This
warning is coming as a result of recent, multiple attacks on oil
facilities and platforms by suspected militants in the Niger Delta
region," the statement issued on Sunday said, without offering further details.
The
attacks follow years of relative calm in the country's oil-producing
region after an 2009 amnesty halted frequent attacks on oil
installations and kidnappings of expatriate workers.
OPEC
member Nigeria is facing an economic crisis and dwindling foreign
reserves as a result of the sharp drop in global oil prices.
President Muhammadu Buhari,
elected last year, wants to revamp the country's long-neglected
refining system and produce enough fuel, particularly gasoline, to
reduce expensive imports.