The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari, has openly admitted that Nigeria’s state-owned refineries were operating at massive losses, prompting his administration to halt their operations to prevent further financial damage to the country.
Ojulari made the revelation yesterday in Abuja during a fireside chat, titled: ‘Securing Nigeria’s Energy Future’, at the Nigeria International Energy Summit 2026, where he delivered one of the most candid assessments yet of the nation’s troubled refining sector.
According to him, the shutdown was necessary to prevent further losses while reassessing the commercial viability of the facilities.
The NNPC boss said the refineries were draining national resources despite decades of heavy investment, leaving Nigerians understandably frustrated. “Regarding the refineries, Nigerians were angry. A lot of money has been spent, and expectations were very high. So we were under extreme pressure”, Ojulari stated.
Nigeria’s four government-owned refineries – Port Harcourt (two plants), Warri, and Kaduna – have consumed billions of dollars in rehabilitation and turn-around maintenance over the years, yet have consistently failed to achieve sustainable output.
Ojulari disclosed that refining was not his area of expertise when he assumed office, having spent most of his career in the upstream oil sector. However, he said accountability required him to quickly understand the realities of the downstream business. “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 further stated.
Following a detailed operational review, Ojulari said it became clear that the refineries were financially unsustainable. “The first thing that became clear is that we were running at a monumental loss to Nigeria. We were just wasting money”, he declared.
He explained that NNPC was feeding crude oil into the refineries every month, yet utilisation remained between 50 and 55 per cent, leading to significant value erosion. “We were spending heavily on operations and contractors, but when you looked at the net outcome, value was simply leaking away”, he added.
More troubling, Ojulari noted, was the absence of a clear path to profitability, while stating that suspending refinery operations was one of the earliest and toughest decisions taken by his leadership, saying: “We decided to stop the refinery and do a quick check. If things were properly lined up, we would reopen and work on them”.
Ojulari’s remarks mark one of the most forthright admissions by an NNPC chief executive that, under existing conditions, government-run refineries are economically unsustainable.
