The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Bayo Ojulari, says Nigeria’s state-owned refineries were operating at a “monumental loss,” prompting his management to shut them down to stop further value erosion.
Ojulari made the disclosure in Abuja during a fireside chat titled “Securing Nigeria’s Energy Future” at the Nigeria International Energy Summit 2026. He said public frustration over the refineries was justified because of the massive investments made over the years and the expectations placed on NNPC.
He noted that although his background is in the upstream sector, accountability demanded a rapid understanding of refining operations. Once his team reviewed the numbers, he said the financial damage became immediately obvious.
According to him, crude oil was being supplied to the refineries every month, but utilisation hovered around 50 to 55 percent, creating large losses. He said NNPC was spending heavily on contractors and operations while the system continued to leak value with no clear path to recovery.
Ojulari added that some refineries produced low-value products compared to the crude input, describing Port Harcourt Refinery as an example where output was classified as mid-grade and commercially unsustainable.
He said the decision to halt operations was difficult because of political pressure to keep the refineries running to guarantee local supply. However, he argued that decades of commercial training made it impossible for him to continue supporting such losses.
Nigeria’s four refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna have underperformed for years despite repeated turnaround maintenance projects worth billions. Many have operated at single-digit capacity or remained shut, forcing the country to rely heavily on fuel imports.
Ojulari’s remarks represent one of the clearest admissions by an NNPC chief that maintaining the refineries under previous conditions was economically unjustifiable. The position reflects a broader shift within NNPC toward commercial discipline under the Petroleum Industry Act.
