Abuja — The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Engr. Bayo Ojulari, has described the reopening of the Port Harcourt Refinery and Petrochemical Company as a monumental waste of national resources, admitting that the national oil company currently lacks the capacity to operate refineries profitably.
Ojulari made the disclosure on Wednesday while speaking at the ongoing 2026 Nigerian International Energy Summit in Abuja.
According to him, effective refinery operations require strong financial backing, competent Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors, and efficient operations and maintenance structures—conditions he said were largely absent.
The Port Harcourt Refinery was rehabilitated at a cost of $1.5 billion under the leadership of former NNPC GCEO, Mele Kyari, and reopened in November 2024 after nearly three years of work. However, the facility was shut down in May 2025 following months of sustained financial losses.
Ojulari said a detailed review of the refinery’s operations revealed that it was operating at a massive loss to the country.
“The first thing that became clear was that we were running at a monumental loss to Nigeria. We were just wasting money. I can say that confidently now,” he said.
He explained that the decision to shut down the refinery was aimed at stopping further financial bleeding and reassessing possible alternatives.
“So the first decision I had to make was to stop the rot by shutting it down and then quickly recalibrating to see what could be done,” he added.
Ojulari questioned how the refinery continued to incur losses despite receiving regular crude oil supplies.
“We were pumping cargo into the refinery every month, but utilisation was around 50 to 55 per cent. Those cargoes have value, and we were losing that value. We were also spending huge sums on operations and contractors,” he said.
Credit: Vanguard
