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Daud Olatunji
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has raised the alarm over alleged moves by some interests to acquire Nigeria’s long-troubled state-owned refineries as scrap, even as the company insists that it will no longer commit resources to rehabilitation projects without a credible pathway to profitability.
The NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during a media engagement on the company’s 2025 audited financial results, achievements and strategic direction.
Ojulari said the national oil company had learnt costly lessons from previous refinery rehabilitation arrangements and would not repeat a model in which contractors were paid for repairs, operations and maintenance without having a direct stake in the commercial performance of the facilities.
Nigeria’s three state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Rivers State; Warri, Delta State; and Kaduna have undergone several rehabilitation and maintenance interventions over the years, with the projects attracting substantial public expenditure while the facilities struggled to achieve sustained commercial production.
The NNPC boss said the company’s new approach was designed to ensure that any fresh investment would result in refineries capable of sustaining their operations and generating profit.
“Whoever is coming with us, we have to work together to make sure that the refinery can make money. And until we find a pathway for it to make money, we’re not going to go,” Ojulari stated.
Ojulari’s warning came as the company intensifies efforts to identify technical equity partners capable of helping it modernise and commercially reposition the refineries.
He alleged that some interests were already preparing to acquire the facilities as scrap, warning that such interests could resist credible efforts to revive the plants.
“There are those who are prepared to buy these refineries as scrap, right? And they already prepared their plans, right? So, we need to watch out,” the GCEO said.
He added that a credible technical and financial solution could threaten the interests of those seeking to profit from the disposal of the facilities.
“So, if you come in with a formidable solution that is credible, you are actually going against some people who would like to do all sorts of stuff,” he said.
Ojulari said NNPC had also discontinued the practice of using crude oil to fund refinery rehabilitation arrangements that failed to generate positive commercial outcomes.
According to him, the company had previously paid contractors, financed rehabilitation and covered operations and maintenance costs without ensuring that the parties involved had sufficient incentives to deliver long-term commercial success.
“We were paying for the refinery repairs with crude oil. Last year we stopped that,” he said.
He said the decision contributed to improved financial performance recorded by the company in 2025.
“Part of the revenue you have seen in 2025 was part of the leakages that we stopped. It was the money going in that was not bringing net positive outcomes,” Ojulari added.
