Nigeria’s refineries fail because experts to run them are missing—NNPC

From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), Bashir Ojulari, has said that state-owned refineries have continued to underperform because they lack the skilled personnel needed to operate them.

Speaking at the Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES 2026) on Wednesday, Ojulari explained that while financing and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts are usually handled, the crucial component of world-class operational capacity is often neglected.

“To make a refinery work, you need three things. First, you need financing. Second, you need a competent EPC contractor to deliver world-class projects. Third, you need world-class operational capacity to run the refineries. The reason our refineries have not worked is that we focused on the first two and ignored the third,” Ojulari said.

He noted that financiers and EPC contractors complete their work, get paid, and exit, leaving NNPC to manage the refineries for decades without the necessary expertise.

Nigeria currently has four state-run refineries. The Port Harcourt Refining Company, which includes two facilities, has a combined capacity of 210,000 barrels per day (bpd). Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited has 110,000 bpd, while Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited has 125,000 bpd. Altogether, Nigeria’s refineries have an installed capacity of 445,000 bpd.

Ojulari said that despite decades of promises and government efforts to revive the refineries, the lack of operational expertise remains the key obstacle to reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imported petrol.

“The challenge is not just building or funding refineries. The real issue is ensuring we have the people to run them efficiently for the long term,” he added.

The NNPC boss, however, assured that the company is currently in talks with partners with proven track records in refining and petrochemical operations, in order to build sustainable, self-financing and profitable solutions for its refineries.