The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Bayo Ojulari, has revealed that Nigeria’s state-owned refineries were running at a “monumental loss,” forcing his management team to suspend operations to stop further financial drain.
Ojulari made the disclosure on Wednesday in Abuja during a fireside chat titled “Securing Nigeria’s Energy Future” at the Nigeria International Energy Summit 2026, shedding light on the commercial and operational challenges facing NNPC’s refining assets.
He said the public’s outrage was warranted due to the massive investments made over the years and the high hopes pinned on the refineries.
On the refineries, Nigerians were angry. A lot of money has been spent, and expectations were very high. So we were under extreme pressure, extreme pressure,” Ojulari said.
He acknowledged that refining was not his primary area of expertise when he took office, having spent most of his career in the upstream sector, but stressed that accountability required him to learn quickly.
“My background is upstream, so I was on a vertical learning curve. You are accountable, so you must learn very quickly. Otherwise, there is no escape,” he said.
Ojulari said that a thorough review of the refinery operations by his management team quickly revealed the harsh financial realities.
He disclosed that NNPC was supplying crude to the refineries every month, but utilisation remained at about 50 to 55 per cent, leading to substantial value losses.
He disclosed that NNPC was supplying crude to the refineries every month, but utilisation remained at about 50 to 55 per cent, leading to substantial value losses.
“We were spending a lot of money on operations, a lot of money on contractors. But when you look at the net, we were just leaking away value,” Ojulari said.
Even more worrying, he said, was that there was no realistic plan in place to stem the losses.
“Sometimes you make a loss during investment, but you have a line of sight to recovery. That line of sight was not clear here,” he added.
Ojulari said his administration’s first major decision was to suspend refinery operations to stop further financial losses and enable a swift reassessment.
“We decided to stop the refinery and do a quick check. We planned that if things were lined up, we would reopen and work on them,” he said.
He revealed that part of the value erosion was linked to the poor quality of products being produced, pointing to the Port Harcourt Refinery as a case in point.
Ojulari admitted that the move to halt operations was politically delicate, as NNPC had traditionally been under pressure to keep refineries operational to guarantee fuel availability.
“There were political pressures to keep the refinery product, lots of pressure. But when you have been trained for over 35 years to focus on commerciality and profitability, you can’t sleep with that,” he said.
