The Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company, Bayo Ojulari, has said the state-owned oil company may consider selling the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries depending on the outcome of its ongoing review. Ojuari disclosed this in an interview with Bloomberg, published on Thursday, at the sidelines of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ recent seminar.
According to him, the technologies brought in to rehabilitate the three refineries have not worked as well as expected because the plants have been abandoned for a long time.
He noted that NNPCL is reviewing its strategies and would arrive at a decision before the end of December 2025.
“So our refineries, we have made quite a lot of investment in over the last several years and brought in a lot of technologies.
We have been challenged that some of those technologies have not worked as expected so far. As you know, refining a very old refinery that has been abandoned for some time becomes a little bit complicated. So we are reviewing all our refinery strategies now. We hope that before the end of the year, we will conclude the review.
“The review will lead to us doing things differently”, he stated.
When asked by Bloomberg whether selling the refineries is an option, Ojulari said, “What we are saying is that a sale is not out of the question; all the options are on the table. That decision will be based on the outcome of the review.”
His comments come after NNPCL, on May 24, 2025, announced the shutdown of the Port Harcourt refinery for planned maintenance and sustainability assessment.
Recall that President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, had, while hosting members of Global CEO Africa at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, claimed that the NNPCL refineries may never work again.
Recall that in November and December last year, the former GCEO of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, announced the successful rehabilitation and commencement of operations at the Port Harcourt