Photo File: NNPCL

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has declared that the decision to operate the Port Harcourt Refinery before the completion of its full rehabilitation was “ill-informed and sub-commercial.”

NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bayo Ojulari, made this known during a company-wide town hall meeting held on Tuesday at the NNPC Towers in Abuja. His comments follow widespread criticisms over the $1.5 billion rehabilitation project and a recent shutdown of the facility just six months after partial operations began.

“The ongoing review indicates that the earlier decision to operate the Port Harcourt refinery, before full completion of its rehabilitation, was ill-informed and sub-commercial,” Ojulari said.

In 2021, the Federal Government had awarded the rehabilitation contract to Italian firm Maire Tecnimont for the 210,000 barrels per day refinery. Despite initial projections of 88% completion by the end of 2023, full-scale operations only commenced in November 2024. However, by May 2025, the refinery was shut down again for maintenance.

Ojulari’s statement also addressed speculations surrounding a possible sale of the facility to private investors, particularly the Dangote Group. While Ojulari had told Bloomberg at the 2025 OPEC Seminar in Vienna that “all options are on the table,” the company has now clarified its stance.

“The emerging outlook calls for more advanced technical partnerships to complete and high-grade the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery. Thus, selling is highly unlikely as it would lead to further value erosion,” the company’s official statement read.

NNPCL affirmed that it remains committed to completing the rehabilitation and retaining the refinery under national ownership. “This position isn’t a shift,” Ojulari noted, “but is informed by ongoing detailed technical and financial reviews of the Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri refineries.”

The announcement was reportedly received with applause from hundreds of NNPC staff, who saw it as a sign of renewed business-focused leadership and strategic direction.

The town hall also featured updates from executive vice presidents of various business units, including Upstream, Downstream, Finance, Business Services, Gas, Power, and New Energy. It served as a platform for honest engagement and reflection on past missteps while outlining a clear roadmap for the future.

The NNPCL described the session as reinforcing its role as “a strategic custodian of national energy infrastructure” and aligning with the Federal Government’s broader energy security agenda.

However, doubts persist among industry leaders. Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, recently expressed scepticism about the viability of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries, despite massive investments.

He claimed the government’s refusal to sell the refineries partly influenced his decision to build the privately owned Dangote Petroleum Refinery. “These refineries, despite significant investments in their rehabilitation, may never operate properly again,” Dangote said.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo echoed this sentiment. He revealed that during his administration, investors—including Dangote—paid $750 million to acquire the refineries, but his successor, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, cancelled the deal. Obasanjo criticised the NNPC’s historical mismanagement, stating, “NNPC knew that they could not do it, but they knew they could eat and carry on with the corruption that was going on in NNPC.”

Obasanjo added, “I was told not too long ago that since that time, more than $2bn has been squandered on the refineries, and they still will not work. If a company like Shell tells me what they told me, I will believe them. If anybody tells you now that it [the refinery] is working, why are they now with Aliko?”

Since 2000, several turnaround maintenance (TAM) efforts have been announced for Nigeria’s refineries with little success. Reports show that despite spending billions of dollars, the facilities have remained largely unproductive.

A 2023 report by the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on the State of Refineries revealed that the Federal Government had spent over ₦11 trillion between 2010 and 2023 on various rehabilitation efforts. Additional costs in other currencies were estimated at $593 million, €4.9 billion, and £3.5 billion.

In addition to $1.5 billion spent on the Port Harcourt refinery rehabilitation alone, analysts estimate that about $18 billion has been expended across all refineries — including Warri and Kaduna — through various contracts, light rehabilitations, and technical surveys since 2000.

Despite these heavy investments, Nigeria continues to rely heavily on imported petroleum products, and the state of the country’s refining infrastructure remains a sore point in public discourse.

As NNPCL recommits to completing the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery and rules out privatisation, industry watchers and Nigerians alike continue to await meaningful results after decades of delays and failed reforms.