Barely a month after announcing the commencement of the 125,000 barrels Warri refinery, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has said the facility is undergoing a planned routine maintenance programme aimed at ensuring optimal operations.

It also denied reports of an explosion at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company.

The company, in a statement signed by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, on Friday, said operations at WRPC were halted to carry out repairs for efficient service delivery.

He added that routine maintenance was progressing and operations would be back in the next few days.

The maintenance activities, which began on January 25, 2025, according to Soneye, are critical to ensuring the production of on-specification finished and intermediate products, such as Automotive Gas Oil and Kerosene.

The statement read, “NNPC Ltd wishes to clarify that there was no explosion at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company. Any reports suggesting otherwise are completely false.

“On January 25, 2025, operations at WRPC Area 1 were intentionally curtailed to carry out necessary intervention works on select equipment, including field instruments that were impacting sustainable and steady operations.

“These intervention works are essential to ensure the production of specification finished and intermediate products, particularly Automotive Gas Oil and Kerosene. The routine maintenance is progressing as planned, and Area 1 will be back in operation within the next few days.”

The NNPCL spokesperson further stated that AGO loading had been maintained at an average of eight trucks per day despite the ongoing interventions.

“Despite ongoing interventions over the past 11 days, AGO loading has been maintained at an average of eight trucks per day, with a sufficient supply available to sustain ongoing truck load-out operations.

“NNPC Ltd remains committed to ensuring uninterrupted product supply and appreciates the patience and cooperation of all stakeholders as it completes these essential maintenance activities,” he added.

Recall that the Warri Refinery returned to operation weeks after NNPC Limited restarted the 60,000 barrels per day at the Port Harcourt Refinery in November.

A total of $1.5bn was approved by the Federal Executive Council in August 2021 for rehabilitating Warri and Kaduna Refineries.

It’s focused on producing and storing critical products, including Straight Run Kerosene, Automotive Gas Oil, and heavy and light Naphtha.

Last week, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria said its members are now loading petroleum products from the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.

President Donald Trump said he agreed to “immediately pause” tariffs on Mexico for a month after a conversation with the country’s president Claudia Sheinbaum, who he said will send 10,000 soldiers to the border with the United States.

This comes as Trump is set to hold another call with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau later on Monday as tariffs to that country still loom.

Over the weekend, the president announced extraordinary new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, and the leaders of all three countries had announced retaliatory measures.

The 25% US tariffs on Mexico had been set to take effect at midnight ET.

Meanwhile the fate of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) appears bleak after Elon Musk said Trump agreed the agency needed to be “shut down,” following days of speculation over the future of the agency after its funding was frozen and dozens of its employees were put on leave.

In Washington, USAID’s headquarters was closed for the day, with employees told in an email to remain at home.

In a related development, Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for spy chief, is expected to meet with GOP senators this week as behind-the-scenes efforts continue to shore up support for her nomination among GOP skeptics.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to vote on her nomination Tuesday afternoon. Another controversial Cabinet pick, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could also face pushback ahead of a Senate vote.