The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) is considering selling some of its refineries as it is becoming a ‘bit more’ complicated to revamp state-owned refineries.
Speaking during an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday at the 9th OPEC International Seminar in Vienna, Austria, Bayo Ojulari the group chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, revealed that a comprehensive strategic review of the company’s refinery operations is currently underway and should be concluded before the end of 2025.
“So we’re reviewing all our refinery strategies now. We hope before the end of the year, we’ll be able to conclude that review. That review may lead to us doing things slightly differently,” he said.
When asked whether the review could lead to a sale of the refineries, the NNPC boss responded, “But what we’re saying is that sale is not out of the question. All the options are on the table, to be frank, but that decision will be based on the outcome of the reviews we’re doing now.”
Nigeria’s state-owned refineries, including those in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna, have been largely non-operational for years. Efforts to revive them have faced repeated setbacks. Although the Port Harcourt refinery resumed limited operations in November 2023, it was shut down again in May 2025 for maintenance.
Ojulari attributed the delays and operational issues to aging infrastructure and underperforming technologies.
“So refineries, we made quite a lot of investment over the last several years and brought in a lot of technologies. We’ve been challenged.
Some of those technologies have not worked as we expected so far. But also, as you know, when you’re refining a very old refinery that has been abandoned for some time, what we’re finding is that it’s becoming a little bit more complicated,” he said.
The NNPC boss also addressed the cost burden of crude oil production in the country, noting that Nigeria currently spends between $25 and $30 to produce a barrel of crude oil, driven in part by the cost of securing pipeline infrastructure.
“For the cost of crude production, there’s a capital cost and there are the operating costs,” he said. “The operating cost right now in Nigeria is hovering over $20 per barrel, which is quite high.
“Part of that is because of the investment we’ve had to make in terms of security of our pipelines, which, as you know, today we have 100 per cent availability of our pipelines. That came out of significant investment. So we believe with time, with stability, that cost will start going down, but for now it’s somewhere between $25 and $30 a barrel,” he added.
Despite the setbacks, Ojulari expressed optimism about the country’s production targets, saying NNPC aims to ramp up Nigeria’s oil output to 1.9 million barrels per day by the end of the year.
