Nnpc considers the sale of refineries after $ 18 billion

… Nigeria’s refineries never work again, says Dangote

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) is rethinking its rehabilitation strategy of the ten -year refinery, with the possibility of selling state structures now firmly on the table, between the deepening of the operational arrest trips and the increase in costs.

Speaking with Bloomberg at the 9th international seminar of countries exported by oil (Opec) in Vienna, CEO of the NNPC group, Bayo Ojulari, admitted that years of efforts and enormous investments in renewing the refineries of Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna have produced small progress.

Ojulari revealed that while the company had distributed advanced technologies in its attempt to restore aging structures, the complexity of relaunching long -lasting infrastructures proved to be more difficult than expected.

“In recent years we have made a lot of investments and have brought many technologies. Unfortunately, some of these technologies have not worked as expected,” he said. “When you are perfecting a very ancient refinery that has been abandoned for some time, we are discovering that it is becoming a little more complicated.”

The refinery of Port Harcourt, which briefly resumed the operations in November 2024, was closed again in May 2025 for additional maintenance. Warri and Kaduna plants remain under rehabilitation.

Ojulari has revealed that the NNPC is leading a global strategic review of its activities and refining operations, which should be completed by the end of the year. If a sale is part of the options, he said: “The sale is not out of the question. All the options are on the table”.

In a correlated development, the richest man and industrial in Africa, Aliko Dangote, has thrown a dark shadow on the future of the refineries owned by the Government of Nigeria, declaring them beyond salvation despite an investment of $ 18 billion by the federal government.

By hosting the members of the Africa delegation of the global CEO at the refinery of Dangote in Lekki, Lagos, Thursday, Dangote has compared the government’s rehabilitation efforts to “modernize a 40 -year car”, warning that the structures are obsolete and structurally unable to meet modern refining requests.

“They spent about 18 billion dollars in those refineries and are not yet working. I don’t think – and I doubt much – if they ever work,” said Dangote.

He also recalled the previous acquisition of his refinerie company in 2007, which was reversed under the deceased president Umaru Musa Yar’adua, following the pressure of the professionals nnpc who believed that the activities could still be recovered.

Despite the current rehabilitation efforts, NNPC has fought to provide functioning refineries. Only in 2021, the Federal Executive Council approved $ 1.5 billion for the structure of Port Harcourt and other $ 1.48 billion for the refineries of Warri and Kaduna, in phases intended for 33 months.

Ojulari also raised concerns about the high oil production costs of Nigeria, which currently vary between $ 20 and $ 30 per barrel, including the highest global level. He attributed Spike in part to heavy investments in the security of the pipeline, which however involved 100% availability of the company’s infrastructure infrastructure.

He expressed optimism that the operating costs will be reduced as the safety stabilizes and has revealed that NNPC is aiming for an increase in the production of crude oil at 1.9 million barrels per day by the end of 2025.

In the meantime, the oil refinery of dangote – privately financed at the cost of $ 19 billion – has started producing diesel and aeronautical fuel, with the production of petrol that will start by the end of July 2025. Beyond 50 percent of its production should go towards the premium motor spirit (PMS).

The rapid progress of damage have renewed public control over the ten -year dependence of the government on the import of fuel and on the recurring allocation of billions of non -functional refineries.

As global energy priorities and tax pressures move, many analysts and interested parties are now wondering if Nigeria should continue to sink the resources in obsolete refining infrastructures, or finally opt for disinvestment.

With the strategic review of NNPC in progress and skepticism, the fate of the refineries – and the future of the refining of the nation – is in the balance.

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