Aliko Dangote, president of the Dangote Group, says he is sceptical that the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries — owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited — will work again.
Dangote spoke on Thursday while hosting members of the Global CEO Africa from the Lagos Business School, after a tour of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos.
The billionaire said more than 50 percent of his refinery’s production — which was built after late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s administration blocked his bid to buy state refineries — now goes to petrol.
“The refineries that we bought before, which were owned by Nigeria, were doing about 22 percent of PMS. We bought the refineries in January 2007. Then we had to return them to the government because there was a change of government,” he said.
“And the managing director at that time convinced Yar’Adua that the refineries would work.
“They said they just gave them to us as a parting gift or so. And as of today, they have spent about $18 billion on those refineries, and they are still not working. I don’t think and I doubt very much if they will work.”
Dangote emphasised that the turnaround maintenance of the refineries “is like you trying to modernise a car that was built 40 years ago, when technology and everything have changed”.
“Even if you change the engine, the body will not be able to take the shock of that new technology engine,” he said.
On November 26, the NNPC said the Port Harcourt refinery had officially commenced crude oil processing, but the refinery shut down in May for maintenance.
The national oil firm said the Warri and Kaduna refineries are still undergoing rehabilitation.
In March 2021, the federal government had approved $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery in Rivers state.
In August 2021, the FEC also approved the sum of $1.48 billion for the rehabilitation of both Warri and Kaduna refineries, in three phases of 21, 23, and 33 months.
On Thursday, Bayo Ojulari, the group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the NNPC, said the company is considering the sale of the refineries, noting that the rehabilitation is becoming more complicated.
