The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has established a definitive timeline of June 2026 to finalize the selection of technical partners who will rebuild and modernize the country's three non-functional refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna.
Strategic Partnership Approach
Group Chief Executive Officer Bayo Ojulari revealed this crucial deadline during a media briefing held in Abuja on Monday. He emphasized that the national oil company is actively seeking private-sector expertise to restore the plants to international standards after years of unsuccessful rehabilitation attempts and declining domestic refining capacity.
The three state-owned refineries, with a combined installed capacity of 445,000 barrels per day, have remained largely inactive for more than a decade, despite billions of dollars invested in previous rehabilitation efforts. Currently, the Port Harcourt facility is undergoing a $1.5 billion upgrade, Warri is being revamped in collaboration with Daewoo Engineering, while Kaduna requires significant reconfiguration to process a wider variety of crude oil types.
Competitiveness Concerns and New Standards
Ojulari expressed concerns that even with ongoing repairs, the refineries remain far below international competitiveness levels. He noted that their output would still lag behind products from the Dangote Refinery and global Euro-V standards if the current rehabilitation plan continues unchanged.
The NNPC boss stressed that the company will only consider partners with proven experience operating functional refineries. "We have lost capability over time. We want partners already in the game, who have demonstrated ability. They will lead operations while we complement with the capacity we have," Ojulari stated, citing the Dangote Refinery as evidence that technical capacity has shifted to private entities.
All collaborations will be structured as purely commercial arrangements under NNPCL's status as a Companies and Allied Matters Act entity, with the company now operating largely as a private enterprise under the Petroleum Industry Act.
Record Financial Performance and Operational Changes
In a significant financial disclosure, Ojulari announced that NNPC recorded an unprecedented N5.4 trillion profit for 2024, marking the highest in the company's history. This achievement comes as the organization strengthens investor relations, improves governance structures, expands technical training programs, and invests in staff development.
The CEO highlighted that NNPCL now operates with greater flexibility to negotiate business deals and attract private capital, emphasizing that "NNPC is largely a private company today. We are not operating as a government parastatal."
Ojulari confirmed that NNPCL may redesign the state-owned plants into hybrid configurations to meet international specifications, with firm completion dates to be published only after these redesigns are finalized. "By the middle of next year, we will have defined the partnerships, contracts, and roadmap," he assured stakeholders.
Concurrently, the national oil company has set an ambitious target to increase Nigeria's crude output to two million barrels per day by 2027, signaling a comprehensive transformation of the country's energy sector.
