• Warri refinery shutdown drags on since January 25.
• P/Harcourt refinery struggles at under 40% production capacity.

Industry operators and experts have raised concerns about the operational integrity of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), specifically regarding the transparency, efficiency, and overall management of Nigeria’s refineries under its control.

This questioning follows the disclosure that the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company has been non-operational since January 25, 2025, due to safety concerns related to its Crude Distillation Unit Main Heater.

An April 2025 document concerning the Midstream and Downstream sector, obtained from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), indicated that the Warri refinery, which incurred $897.6 million in maintenance expenses, did not produce Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) and was shut down shortly after the former NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, announced its operational status.

Industry operators and experts have expressed disappointment over this situation, and further investigations revealed that the Port Harcourt Refining Company, which restarted operations in November 2024, has been functioning at less than 40 percent of its capacity.

It was gathered that the 125,000 barrels per day capacity Warri refinery, which had been moribund for decades due to technical issues, was brought back to life by the national oil company on December 30, 2024.

Situated in Ekpan, Uwvie, and Ubeji areas of Warri, the petrochemical plant has an annual production capacity of 13,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene and 18,000 metric tonnes of carbon black.

Commissioned in 1978, the WRPC is operated by the NNPC and was established to cater to the markets in Nigeria’s southern and southwestern regions.

President Bola Tinubu commended the NNPCL for completing the refurbishment of the 125,000-bpd capacity Warri refinery, which reportedly kicked off operations at 60 per cent capacity.

It is focused on producing and storing critical products, including Straight Run Kerosene, Automotive Gas Oil (diesel), and heavy and light Naphtha.

Briefing his team before the tour following the revitalisation, Kyari had said many Nigerians doubt such projects were real or possible in the country, but insisted the revitalisation was genuine and visible.

Kyari said, “We are taking you through our plant. This plant is running. Although it is not 100 per cent complete, we are still in the process. Many people think these things are not real. They think real things are not possible in this country. We want you to see that this is real.

“I must congratulate our team for their determination and extreme belief that this company can restart this plant. This has brought the result we are seeing in collaboration with our contractors. We have proved that it is possible to restart a plant that you deliberately shut down. We have proved this.”

However, the document obtained exclusively from the NMDPRA, providing detailed production data for each refinery in the country, revealed that the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, with an installed capacity of 125,000 barrels per day, has remained shut since January 25, 2025.

The report linked the shutdown to critical faults in the refinery’s Crude Distillation Unit Main Heater, which raised safety concerns and forced a complete halt in operations.

“The Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company was shut down on 25th Jan. 2025 due to safety concerns over the CDU Main Heater,” the document stated.

It further stated that the Port Harcourt refinery, with a nameplate capacity of 60,000 barrels per day, has been operating at just 37.87 per cent of its installed capacity six months after its long-awaited revitalisation.

The refinery’s monthly production data showed that it produced a monthly average of 82.55 million litres of refined petroleum products between November 2024 and April 2025, 135.45ML less than its estimated optimal production of 218 million litres per month.

The latest development also contradicts claims by the NNPCL spokesperson, Femi Soneye, that the Port Harcourt refinery recommissioned on November 26, 2024, was operating at 70 per cent of its installed capacity, with plans to increase output to 90 per cent in subsequent months.

The refinery’s output consists of Premium Motor Spirit blending components, including Straight-Run Gasoline and Straight-Run Naphtha, as well as Automotive Gas Oil (diesel). The plant, equipped with a Hydrocracker Unit, produced high-value fuels such as jet fuel, Household Kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, and naphtha.

At its recommissioning, the state-owned firm stated that the Port Harcourt refinery would produce daily outputs of 1.4 million litres of Straight-Run Gasoline blended into Premium Motor Spirit, 900,000 liters of Kerosene, 1.5 million litres of Automotive Gas Oil, 2.1 million litres of Low Pour Fuel Oil, and additional volumes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

The $1.5bn rehabilitation project, funded through a loan facility backed by international financial institutions, was projected to restore the state-owned facility to full operational status after years of dormancy and seven postponements.

Recall that several deadlines for the commencement of fuel production at the Port Harcourt refinery, with the latest failure occurring in September 2024, from its earlier target of December 2023.

During the unveiling, NNPC officials embarked on a tour around the facility where they took samples of petrol, diesel, and kerosene. It was stated that about 200 trucks of petrol would be released into the Nigerian market daily.

Similarly, President Tinubu, in celebrating the restart, stated that it would contribute to achieving energy sufficiency, enhancing energy security, and boosting Nigeria’s export capacity.

“In alignment with the Renewed Hope Agenda focused on shared economic prosperity for all, the President reaffirms his administration’s commitment to achieving energy sufficiency, enhancing energy security, and boosting export capacity for Nigeria,” a statement by the presidency noted.

Recently, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria commended the NNPCL for successfully running the revamped Port Harcourt Refinery for 180 days non-stop. The association, in a statement signed by the National Public Relations Officer, Dr Joseph Obele, said the refinery had been dormant for over 20 years.

He said its members were loading diesel and Dual Purpose Kerosene from the refinery, while NNPC Ltd. retail marketers were loading PMS.

Obele said, “It was commissioned in October 2024 and has been running continuously for 180 days, up to March 2025; it is a remarkable feat that underscores the effectiveness of the rehabilitation project.”

But the new document highlighting the refinery’s true state said the facility didn’t exceed 42.23 per cent of its operational capacity within the six-month period. It disclosed that the facility produced more diesel than PMS blending components of Straight-Run Gasoline and Straight-Run Naphtha.

The total production figure was derived from the cumulative output of various refined petroleum products, including the blending components for PMS, AGO, and HKK products. According to oil and gas experts, one barrel of crude, when heated and refined, can produce 159 litres of refined products.

A detailed breakdown revealed that in November, the refinery produced 9.51 million litres, significantly below its operational capacity of 38.16 million litres. This represents a meagre 24.92 per cent utilisation, with a shortfall of 28.65 million litres.

In December, the refinery saw a remarkable increase in production, rising by 1,044 per cent to 108 million litres. However, this output still fell short of the expected monthly production of 286.20 million litres, utilising just 38.01 per cent of its capacity and leaving a substantial shortfall of 177.41 million litres.

In January, the refinery produced 120.91 million litres of refined products, representing just 42.2 per cent of its full 286.20 million-litre capacity, according to production data.

This was followed by a slight decline in February, where 111.81 million litres were produced, equating to 39.1 per cent of the refinery’s total capacity. In March, production further decreased to 100.03 million litres, which accounted for 35 per cent of the expected output for the month.

In the first 13 days of April, the refinery produced 44.24 million litres, amounting to 35.7 per cent of the projected capacity of 124.02 million litres for the month.

A detailed product-by-product analysis of the refinery’s output reveals significant fluctuations in production across various categories. In November, the refinery produced 4.38 million litres of PMS, which surged to 40.32 million litres in December, and continued increasing in January with 41.76 million litres.

However, production dropped to 39.34 million litres in February and 34.21 million litres in March, before falling further to 15.22 million litres in the first 13 days of April.

For AGO, commonly known as diesel, the refinery produced 3.49 million litres in November, with a sharp increase to 40.72 million litres in December. The output then peaked at 55.10 million litres in January, followed by slight decreases to 47.33 million litres in February, 45.38 million litres in March, and 18.96 million litres in the first half of April.

HKK production saw more modest but still notable variations, with 1.64 million litres in November, rising sharply to 27.75 million litres in December. This was followed by a dip to 24.05 million litres in February and 25.14 million litres in March, before declining further to 10.06 million litres in April. This data highlights the refinery’s erratic production pattern across key petroleum products, underlining ongoing challenges in meeting expected outputs and operational efficiency.

The daily average data showed that in November, the facility trucked out an average of 238,080 litres of PMS per day, which spiked to 538,600 litres per day in December. However, the output dropped in January, with a daily average of 275,630 litres of PMS and 347,380 litres of diesel. In February, the refinery produced 85,480 litres of PMS and 639,240 litres of diesel on average per day, marking another dip in PMS production.

Remarkably, the refinery recorded zero litres of PMS evacuation in both March and April, underscoring a significant shortfall. In contrast, diesel production increased sharply, with a daily average of 865,110 litres in March and 968,460 litres in the first half of April.

On its part, the Warri refinery, which has remained shut for four months, produced 1.96ml of AGO, 2.84ml of HKK in December and 10ml of AGO and 12ml of HKK in January 2025.

When contacted by our correspondent, the NNPCL spokesperson declined to comment on the issue. Questions sent to his WhatsApp line were not answered. But Soneye, in a statement released in February, had admitted that the facility was undergoing a planned routine maintenance programme aimed at ensuring optimal operations.

According to him, operations at WRPC were halted to carry out repairs for efficient service delivery. He added that routine maintenance was progressing and operations would be back in the next few days.

The statement read, “NNPC Ltd wishes to clarify that there was no explosion at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company. Any reports suggesting otherwise are completely false.

“On January 25, 2025, operations at WRPC Area 1 were intentionally curtailed to carry out necessary intervention works on select equipment, including field instruments that were impacting sustainable and steady operations.

“These intervention works are essential to ensure the production of specification finished and intermediate products, particularly Automotive Gas Oil and Kerosene. The routine maintenance is progressing as planned, and 1 will be back in operation within the next few days.”

Operators, Experts React

The company’s silence has further fueled skepticism among operators and energy analysts, who argue that years of investment in Nigeria’s state-run refineries have yielded little tangible results.

Weighing in on the development, the National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Chinedu Ukadike, described the situation as “disheartening,” calling for urgent reforms and accountability within the nation’s ailing refinery sector.

He also urged the President to declare a state of emergency on the refineries and carry out a holistic review of staff and workers at the facility.

He said, “When the former GMD announced the resumption of these two refineries, it was a relief to not only marketers but commuters and petroleum users nationwide. That was a very significant announcement and an opportunity to be able to buy petroleum products either from Dangote, Port Harcourt, or Warri refinery.

“But it is very, very disheartening that a refinery that gulped a whole lot of money would be shut down in less than two months of operations. That is a total waste, and people should be held responsible. I also urge the President to review the staff and workers in all these refineries and declare a state of emergency on them.

“It is not only in Rivers State that we can declare a state of emergency. It can be declared in an organization that you have put in so much, and they are bedridden. This development has now left us in the hands of Dangote, who is the sole source of petroleum products and profiteering. We have kicked against this as marketers, so for us, it is a bad business because the real competition is not there.”

He noted, however, that while marketers would remain committed to buying and selling, it would be more beneficial to have multiple sources of products.

“When you talk about the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, you must talk about it holistically. Allowing marketers to liberalise the market and be able to buy from wherever they want to source products. Now, we have a mono-source, and anytime Dangote reduces, everyone has to follow, losing billions of naira.

“There is no business anywhere because the beauty of deregulation is competition. You can’t open a refinery, and on the resumption, it would load only four trucks, which is disheartening. The next day, you load six trucks, epileptic loading for a refinery that has gulped so much of our nation’s wealth,” Ukadike stated.

A petroleum expert, Bala Zaka, criticised the ongoing operations of state-owned refineries, stating that despite claims of functionality, Nigerians have yet to see any tangible benefits in the form of reduced prices for diesel, petrol, and other petroleum products.

Zaka, speaking in a telephone interview said, “As far as I am concerned, the workability of any aspect of a country’s economy is supposed to be seen practically in the way and manner prices of goods and services come down. And as far as the output of the state-owned refinery is concerned, this objective has not been achieved. If the price of diesel, petrol, and other petroleum products doesn’t reduce, then all the technicalities don’t make any sense.

“If our state-owned refineries were truly functional as claimed by the government, by now, Nigerians should have seen a good and substantial reduction in the price of diesel, petrol, cooking gas, and other products. So far, these products have not reduced in price, there’s no technicality to prove that they were actually working since.”

However, the expert firmly rejected calls for the privatisation of the refineries, emphasizing that member countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries successfully operate state-run refineries.

He insisted that the government must take comprehensive and decisive action to restore and maintain the full functionality of its own refineries, rather than relinquishing control to private interests.

An oil and gas expert and former adviser to a former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Dan Kunle, described the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries as a scandal.

Kunle stated this while fielding questions on Diaspora Dialogues, an online panel discussion.

Responding to questions from Professor Farooq Kperogi and other panelists on the topic, ’Kyari Out, Ojulari In: Politics and Corruption in NNPC’, Kunle said the removal of Mele Kyari, as well as the appointment of Bayo Ojulari as the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, was long overdue.

The energy expert argued that Kyari did not complete a single project during his time at the NNPC, saying Kyari’s much-celebrated rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries was mere propaganda to deceive Nigerians.

He stated that the former NNPC team created wealth for themselves but failed to create value for the country.

“Ojulari’s appointment is the most desired appointment I have longed for as far back as 2021. Anybody can check the trend of my disposition and exposure to the then management of the NNPC. I said these guys cannot deliver any good to this country.

“I insisted because I knew their level of competency, ineptitude, and irresponsibility in that place. I chose my words carefully. So, Bayo Ojulari’s appointment, whether it is Bayo or any other competent person that would have replaced Mele, I am one of the happiest persons with President Bola Tinubu for taking that decision. He even took it too late.

“There was a time on television when I said if I was privileged to meet President Tinubu, I would ask him, Mr President, when are you going to get Kyari out of that place and put a more competent person in Nigeria to run. The person can be from Maiduguri or anywhere.

“There are competent people from all over Nigeria. I just want a core competent person to replace Mele. That’s all. It’s because I knew the team was not going to deliver any good for the country. And I meant it. And it has been proven. They never surpassed 1.7 – 1.8 million (barrels of oil output per day) for the last six years. See what we have gone through.

“And they never completed any project. Even the only project, the Escravo-Lagos gas pipeline, which they completed, could not be commissioned effectively. So, I know what I’m talking about. The (Ojulari) appointment is very appropriate, very timely, and very welcome by the industry. I speak for the industry,” Kunle stated.

Speaking about the NNPC refineries, Kunle disagreed with reports that Kyari succeeded in bringing back the moribund facilities after many unsuccessful years of trying.

“You see, when public officers use our money to launch media campaigns against citizens, telling lies and propaganda, it pains me. I’m among the people who have fair knowledge and understanding of the industry. So, I see public officers of that rank now using our resources to use the media to project what is not to the citizens; it pains me. And they seem to always get a cross-section of the media and the labour to be on their side.

“They even went to the extent of recruiting past Group Managing Directors to endorse him (Kyari). If what you are doing is so good, it will be transparently known by everybody that you are doing very well. Those projects they claimed he commissioned or revived, was he the one who drove them? Was he the one who drove the Dangote refinery? Dangote refinery and its team, Edwin drove the Dangote refinery — Engineering, procurement, and construction, installation, and commissioning. So, all the projects that were driven by NNPC, show me any one that was completed.

“The refinery rehabilitation is a scandal. We told them not to go that way. They went ahead to do that. As we are talking, all those refineries that have been ‘politically’ completed, as they told us, have they been economically and engineering process-wise completed? No. LNG Train One to Six, is it working? No, two trains are working there. Train Seven is there. All the gas pipeline projects OB3 to Cross River/Niger are stranded. AKK is stranded. So, mention one project to me. With all the propaganda, I am amazed at times. The reason why some of us must talk, even at the risk of our life, is because of this trend since 1966 of the elites looking away from the public managers that run down their country,” he submitted.

The energy expert regretted that public officers ran down critical institutions in Nigeria, including the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited as well as electricity, education, health, and others.

“We ran down the educational system of Nigeria. We ran down the health system of Nigeria. We ran down the public works system of Nigeria. We ran down NEPA. We ran down NITEL. We ran down NPA. We ran down the railway. We ran down everything.

“NNPC was the only institution left that was still generating money for this country. We allowed a team of these boys to run it down. And we will be hailing them. Our political leaders will even be approving national merit awards for them.

“The last team that led NNPC, all the professors of geophysics and geology and engineering that taught them in the university, in the last 15 years, what is the status of those professors compared to that team that those boys led? Just go and compare the kind of wealth those boys created for themselves and their cronies. So, I think we need to start interrogating our public managers and stop using propaganda to support them that they complete this, they complete that. They don’t function. Those things never function.

“They never give you back anything. Is Ajakuta producing anything? And you have a whole minister of steel. And they will tell you the steel industry is doing well. How is the steel industry doing well? These are the issues,” he said.

The stakeholder sought to know Kyari’s project that added value to the nation’s economy.m, accusing him of diverting funds from the upstream to the midstream and downstream.

“Which project did he (Kyari) do to add value to the economy of this country? He took the money from the upstream revenue to waste in the midstream and downstream. Please, this is my take, not biased. I have no problem with the personality of people. If you do good, you are my brother. If you do good, you are my sister. I don’t care about your tribe. I don’t care about what you worship. Humanity must fight for the common good of humanity because our stay on this earth is temporary. That’s my own philosophy,” he stated.

Credit: The Punch