The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Engr. Bayo Ojulari, has said reopening the Port Harcourt Refinery was a waste of Nigeria’s resources.
Ojulari spoke on Wednesday at the 2026 Nigerian International Energy Summit. He said NNPC currently does not have the ability to run refineries in a way that makes profit.
According to him, for a refinery to work well, three things are needed: enough money to fund operations, skilled Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors, and strong technical capacity to manage daily operations and maintenance.
The Port Harcourt Refinery was repaired at a cost of $1.5 billion under former NNPC boss, Mele Kyari.
It was reopened in November 2024 after three years of repairs. However, it was shut down again in May 2025 because it kept losing money.
Ojulari said after closely reviewing the refinery’s performance for several months, it became clear that it was operating at a huge loss.
He explained that crude oil was supplied to the refinery every month, but it was only working at about 50 to 55 per cent capacity. Despite this, NNPC still spent heavily on operations and contractors.
According to him, the refinery was losing value instead of making profit, and there was no clear plan to turn the losses around.
Because of this, he decided to shut it down to stop further losses and reassess the situation.
Ojulari said NNPC is now looking for experienced partners with proven records in refinery management to operate Nigeria’s refineries.
On oil production, he said Nigeria’s target of 1.8 million barrels per day for 2026 is realistic and achievable.
He described the Federal Government’s earlier target of 2.06 million barrels per day as too ambitious, noting that average production last year was about 1.7 million barrels per day.
He explained that Nigeria faced financial problems last year because oil production and prices were lower than expected, even though government spending plans were based on higher projections.
According to him, this mismatch caused serious economic problems.
Ojulari stressed that Nigeria must make realistic and credible oil production plans to avoid future financial crises.
