-
Reaffirms Commitment to Rehabilitation of Plant
- Safiu Kehinde
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has ruled out the sales of the Port Harcourt refinery as it reaffirmed its commitment to the rehabilitation and retention of the plant.
As against speculations of imminent sales of the refinery, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Bayo Ojulari, on Wednesday dismissed the speculations during a town hall meeting at the NNPC Towers in Abuja.
According to report, Ojulari had initially raised the speculations with his earlier comments at the 2025 OPEC Seminar in Vienna, where he said “all options are on the table” regarding the future of Nigeria’s refineries.
The NNPC boss would however rule out to the rumoured sales plan as he held that selling of the Port Harcourt Refining Company will lead to further value erosion.
He also described the operation of the refinery before the completion of its rehabilitation as ill-advised and sub-commercial.
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has officially ruled out the sale of the Port Harcourt Refining Company, reaffirming its commitment to completing high-grade rehabilitation and retention of the plant.
“The ongoing review indicates that the earlier decision to operate the Port Harcourt refinery, before full completion of its rehabilitation, was ill-informed and subcommercial.
”Thus, selling is highly unlikely as it would lead to further value erosion.” He said.
Ojulari added that the new position of the firm is informed by ongoing detailed technical and financial reviews of the Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri refineries.
”Although progress is being made on all three, the emerging outlook calls for more advanced technical partnerships to complete and high-grade the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery.” He added.