NNPC Denies Explosion at Port Harcourt Refinery, Urges Public to Ignore Rumours
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has dismissed reports of an explosion at the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) in Rivers State, urging both the media and the public to disregard the false claims.
In a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja, Olufemi Soneye, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC Ltd, clarified that the incident was a flare, not an explosion, and assured that the situation had been fully contained.
“The flare incident has been completely controlled, and there is no danger or health hazard to staff, the surrounding communities, or the environment,” the statement confirmed.
NNPC Ltd further emphasized that any reports suggesting an explosion at the refinery were entirely false and should be ignored.
LEADERSHIP recalls that the rumoured explosion at the Port Harcourt Refinery may have been fueled by the explosion at the Trans-Niger Pipeline (TNP) in the Bodo area of Gokana local government, Rivers State, on Tuesday. Following that incident, another explosion occurred at an oil facility in the Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area of the state, sparking concerns of potential militant attacks on oil facilities amid ongoing political tensions in the region.
