The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) has disclosed that the country\u2019s state-owned refineries were shut down after internal reviews showed they were operating at \u201cmonumental losses\u201d and destroying value for Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd., Mr. Bashir Ojulari, made this known on Wednesday in Abuja during a Fireside Chat titled \u201cSecuring Nigeria\u2019s Energy Future\u201d<\/em> at the ongoing Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ojulari said his management team moved quickly to assess the true condition of the refineries amid public anger over years of heavy spending with little to show for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen we came in, refineries were a hot topic. Nigerians were angry, expectations were very high, and we were under extreme pressure,\u201d he said. He explained that despite monthly crude supply to the plants, utilisation levels remained low while costs kept rising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCrude was going into the refineries every month, yet utilisation hovered around 50 to 55 per cent, and operational and contractor costs kept soaring,\u201d Ojulari said. According to him, NNPC decided to halt operations to stop the financial drain, even in the face of political pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat trajectory would have meant value destruction for the next 30 years. We were not going to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ojulari also credited the Dangote Refinery with easing Nigeria\u2019s fuel supply challenges and giving government room to rethink its refinery strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhether you love Dangote or hate him, thank God for the Dangote Refinery. It is working, it is in Nigeria, and it gives us room to make better decisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that NNPC has strengthened collaboration with the Dangote Refinery while still playing its role as supplier of last resort and promoting competition in the downstream sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Explaining why past refinery efforts failed, Ojulari said too much focus had been placed on financing and construction, with little attention to long-term operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou cannot have financing, EPC and O&M contracts all extracting value without any skin in the game. That system was designed for taking, not sustaining,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the new direction, he said NNPC plans to bring in experienced refinery operators as equity partners rather than contractors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are not selling Nigeria. We are selling down equity where necessary to secure a sustainable, self-financing refinery that runs like a business,\u201d Ojulari said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He disclosed that talks were already ongoing with potential investors, including a major Chinese petrochemical company, with site inspections expected soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On crude-for-naira and domestic supply, Ojulari said product availability remains NNPC\u2019s priority, adding that prices would stabilise naturally once supply gaps are closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) has disclosed that the country’s state-owned refineries were shut down after internal reviews showed they were operating at “monumental losses” and destroying value for Nigeria. The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd., Mr. Bashir Ojulari, made this known on Wednesday in Abuja during a Fireside Chat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":26245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-big-story","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/youdonhear.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG-20250418-WA0003.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdonhear.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdonhear.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdonhear.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdonhear.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdonhear.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/youdonhear.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26246,"href":"https:\/\/youdonhear.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26244\/revisions\/26246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdonhear.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdonhear.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdonhear.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdonhear.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cAfter a detailed review, it became clear that we were simply wasting money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we looked at the net outcome, we were leaking value with no clear line of sight to profitability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n