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SV Sign outside the Warri Refinery.
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GVs Refinery plant. (4 shots).
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GV PAN Ship at quayside with refinery pipelines in foreground.
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LV PULL BACK FROM Tower burning off waste gas TO Lt-General Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerian Heads of State, arriving surrounded by newsmen.
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LV Crowd in stands.
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SV General Obasanjo speaking in English.
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GENERAL OBASANJO: "And now that the refinery is a reality, we hope that it will be taken with pride by all our brothers in this locality as a national treasure and be guarded on behalf of all Nigeria. Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure in commissioning this refinery for the economic progress and well-being of all Nigeria. Thank you."




Initials RM/2215



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Nigeria has taken a nearer petroleum self-sufficiency with the commissioning of a new oil refinery. Unlike most other crude oil producers, Nigeria has experienced a severe and persistent shortage of petroleum products over the past five years - even though it discovered its own oil and established a local refining facility at Port Harcourt more than a decade ago.

SYNOPSIS: The latest refinery is situated at Warri in the centre of the oil-producing region of the Western Niger Delta. It is only the second to be built in Nigeria, and the first to be fully owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Providing 450 jobs and designed to process two types on Nigerian crude oils, Warri has a potential daily production capacity of 100,000 barrels. It will produce gasoline, kerosene for aircraft and domestic use, gas-oil and industrial fuel oils. To exploit the area's inland waterways, the refinery's products can be loaded at a nearby jetty for local and export markets. Road tankers and pipelines link the refinery with other depots throughout Nigeria.

Nigeria's Head of State, Lieutenant-General Olusegun Obasanjo, performed the opening ceremony and declared it a national treasure.