By Tennyson Sampson
The state-owned refineries have for decades symbolised sunk costs, broken promises and public frustration.
However, at the NIES2026, Bashir Ojulari, NNPCL GCEO revealed that the corporation’s new strategy, approved by its board, will bring in experienced refinery operators as equity partners rather than contractors.
These partners, according to him, will lead operations, invest capitalvand help build internal capacity.
“We are not selling Nigerian refineries,” Ojulari clarified. “But we will sell down equity where necessary to make them work.”
He disclosed that discussions are ongoing with global operators, including a major Chinese petrochemical firm, with site inspections already underway. The precise equity stake remains flexible.
“We will relinquish as much as required to secure a sustainable deal,” he said.
He also offered the most candid explanation yet on why they failed and what must change.
“When we came in, refineries were hot cakes,” Ojulari said. “Nigerians were angry. Billions spent. Expectations high. And we were under extreme pressure.”
Ojulari admitted he inherited a system he barely understood at first, coming from an upstream background. But a rapid internal review revealed a stark truth: Nigeria’s refineries were destroying value.
“We were running at a monumental loss,” he said. “We were just wasting money.”
According to him, crude cargoes were pumped into refineries operating at barely 50–55 per cent utilisation, producing low-value products, while incurring massive operating and contracting costs.
“The line of sight wasn’t clear before,” he said. “But when you look at the net position, we were losing.”
He disclosed that the NNPCL halted operations to stop the financial bleeding and launched a full reassessment even though the political pressure to keep refineries running was intense, Ojulari acknowledged, but commercial logic prevailed, helped by the emergence of the Dangote Refinery.
“Whether you love Dangote or hate him, thank God it’s a Nigerian refinery working in Nigeria,” he said, noting that the NNPCL is also a shareholder.
Ojulari distilled the refinery challenge into three essentials: financing, competent EPC delivery, and most critically world-class operations.
“Nigeria always focused on the first two,” he said. “But no refinery survives without operational excellence.”
Past models, he argued, left NNPCL with long-term operational responsibility while financiers and contractors exited with guaranteed returns without “skin in the game.”
Looking ahead, Ojulari noted that the NNPCL’s vision extends beyond fuel refining to petrochemicals and fertiliser production, positioning Nigeria as a regional industrial hub rather than just a domestic supplier.
“Our market is not just Nigeria,” he said. “West and Central Africa still have a 20–30 per cent refining gap.”
For Ojulari, the goal is simple, but uncompromising: self-financing, commercially run refineries that finally work.
“The focus is not pride,” he said. “The focus is sustainability.”