The Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), Bayo Ojulari, has declared that continued operation of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries has become an economically wasteful exercise that delivers no value to the country while draining public resources.
Ojulari made the disclosure in Abuja during a fireside chat titled “Securing Nigeria’s Energy Future” at the Nigeria International Energy Summit 2026, where he spoke candidly about the financial realities confronting the national oil company.
According to him, despite sustained political pressure to keep the refineries operational, internal assessments showed that the facilities were recording heavy and persistent losses, making their operation commercially unjustifiable.
He explained that public frustration over the enormous sums invested in the refineries had fuelled heightened expectations, placing NNPC Ltd under intense pressure to sustain operations even when the economics no longer supported such decisions.
“From a commercial standpoint, our review showed that these refineries were operating at a monumental loss to the country,” Ojulari said, noting that huge amounts were being spent on operations, maintenance, and contractors without any commensurate value creation.
The NNPC boss stressed that while losses can occur during the early stages of major investments, viable projects typically demonstrate a clear and credible pathway to recovery and profitability. He said such a pathway was glaringly absent in the case of Nigeria’s government-owned refineries.
Ojulari disclosed that the company was compelled to suspend refinery operations in order to carry out a comprehensive reassessment aimed at determining whether reopening the facilities would make commercial sense in the long term.
Providing further insight, he revealed that crude oil processed at the Port Harcourt refinery yielded mainly mid-grade products whose combined market value was lower than the cost of the crude feedstock, reinforcing the decision to halt operations rather than continue accumulating losses.
His remarks have reignited debate over the future of Nigeria’s refineries, particularly against the backdrop of decades of turnaround maintenance spending, poor output, and the country’s long-standing reliance on imported refined petroleum products.