The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has identified the key reasons why the country’s state-owned refineries have consistently failed to operate efficiently.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Bashir Ojulari, disclosed this during a fireside chat at the ongoing Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES 2026) on Wednesday.
Mr Ojulari explained that three essential elements are required to make a refinery work: financing, a competent engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), and world-class operational capacity.
However, he noted that NNPC’s focus has been on financing and EPC while neglecting the crucial aspect of operational capacity.
“To make the refinery work, you need three things. First, you need financing to finance the work, the activities, and all that.
“Two, you need a competent EPC contractor to deliver world-class projects for you that are great. Three, you need a world-class operational capacity to run the refineries.
“The reason our refineries have not worked is that we are focused on the first two, EPC and financing and ignored the third (the world-class operational capacity to run the refineries),” he said.
He said the challenge is that financiers and EPC contractors complete their work, get paid, and exit, leaving NNPC to operate the refinery for 20 to 50 years without adequate expertise.
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Nigeria has four state-run refineries, including two in Port Harcourt, which together form the Port Harcourt Refining Company, with a combined installed capacity of 210,000 barrels per day (bpd).
The Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited has an installed capacity of 110,000 bpd, while the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited has an installed capacity of 125,000 bpd.
All four refineries have a combined installed capacity of 445,000 bpd.
For decades, successive administrations have promised and made moves aimed at reviving the nation’s refineries to reduce dependency on petrol importation, but have failed.
