The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Bayo Ojulari, has revealed that the company is considering the possible sale of some of its refineries as it faces mounting difficulties in rehabilitating them.
Ojulari disclosed this during an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday at the 9th OPEC International Seminar held in Vienna, Austria. According to him, a comprehensive strategic review of NNPC’s refinery operations is currently underway and is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
“We’re reviewing all our refinery strategies now,” he said. “We hope to conclude that review before the end of the year, and it may result in us adopting a slightly different approach.”
When asked whether this new direction could involve selling the refineries, Ojulari responded, “Sale is not off the table. All options are being considered, but any final decision will depend on the outcome of our ongoing review.”
Nigeria has been striving to revamp its dilapidated state-owned refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna. Although the Port Harcourt refinery briefly resumed operations in November 2023, it was shut down again in May 2025 for maintenance. Ojulari cited obsolete infrastructure and underperforming technologies as major hurdles.
“We’ve invested heavily in these refineries over the years and introduced several technologies, but some of them haven’t delivered as expected,” he explained. “Rehabilitating refineries that have been idle for a long time has proven to be more complex than anticipated.”
Ojulari also highlighted the high cost of crude oil production in Nigeria, estimating the operating cost at between $25 and $30 per barrel. He attributed this in part to substantial investments made to secure oil pipelines.
“Our operating costs are high, partly because we’ve had to invest heavily in pipeline security,” he said. “Currently, we have 100 percent pipeline availability, which was achieved through significant financial input. With time and greater stability, we expect these costs to come down.”
Despite these challenges, the NNPC boss expressed optimism about increasing Nigeria’s oil output, stating that the company is aiming to raise daily production to 1.9 million barrels by the end of the year.
