By Mary Izuaka

 

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has called on President Bola Tinubu to direct the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) to urgently restart the nation’s state-owned refineries.

The association made the call in response to President Tinubu’s Independence Day broadcast on Thursday to mark Nigeria’s 66th anniversary.

In a statement jointly signed by its Special Advisor on Media, Chris Odia, and National Public Relations Officer, Joseph Obele, PETROAN said restarting the refineries before the January election period would put national assets back to work for Nigerians.

According to the statement, the National President of PETROAN, Billy Gillis-Harry, said prolonged inactivity of the refineries has affected businesses, workers, contractors, transport operators and communities whose livelihoods depend on the petroleum value chain.

“Returning the refineries to productive operation would increase domestic refining capacity, strengthen energy security, create economic opportunities and make better use of Nigeria’s existing national assets,” Mr Gillis-Harry said.

“This is not simply about restarting refineries. It is about putting national assets back to work for Nigerians,” he added.

He said increased domestic refining capacity, alongside privately owned refineries, could create a more competitive downstream market, encourage efficiency, improve product availability and potentially put downward pressure on Petroleum-product prices.

He, however, noted that prices would continue to depend on factors such as crude oil supply costs, exchange rates, taxes and logistics.

The association stressed that refinery revival must be supported by reliable crude supply, efficient operations and effective distribution of petroleum products.

“Nigerians want to see the benefits of our natural resources in their businesses, their jobs, their transportation costs and their everyday lives. A functioning domestic refining sector can be an important part of achieving that,” he said.

The association called for stronger cooperation among the federal government, NNPC Ltd, regulators, refinery operators and marketers and other industry stakeholders.

“PETROAN remains committed to supporting policies that promote energy security, strengthen domestic refining, improve petroleum-product distribution, encourage investment and ensure that Nigeria’s oil and gas resources create greater value for the Nigerian people.”

The refinery

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.

The Warri Refinery, which was reopened in December 2024, shut down in January last year on account of safety issues. In May 2025, NNPC Ltd announced an outage at the Port Harcourt Refinery, preparatory to scheduled maintenance.

READ ALSO: Why Nigeria’s refineries never worked – NNPC

In February, the NNPC said the state-owned refineries were shut down because they were not commercially viable in their current condition.

At the time, the NNPC said despite crude oil supplies, the refineries struggled to operate efficiently, with utilisation rates stuck between 50 and 55 per cent.

The company added that the operating and contractor costs kept rising, but the refined products yielded were often of lower value than the input crude, resulting in significant losses.

“We are pumping cargo every month into the refineries. Utilisation of those cargoes was maybe like 55 and 50 per cent. That cargo is valued a lot.

“We’re spending a lot of money in the operations, a lot of money in the contractors, but if you then look at the net, we’re just leaking away a lot of value, and there was no clarity on what the plan was to turn that loss into positive,” Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Ltd, Bayo Ojulari, said while speaking during a fireside chat at the Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES 2026) in February.