A former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Pa Chamberlain Oyibo, has urged the new management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), led by Mr Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), to ensure that all the three refineries being operated by NNPC Ltd are operational and at appreciable capacity.

The refineries are the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries. In an interview with Saturday Telegraph yesterday, he also noted that the refineries are crucial to Nigeria’s economy and the downstream sector.

The new plant of the Port Harcourt Refinery resumed operations on November 26, 2024, after many years of inactivity. There were extensive rehabilitation efforts of the Port Harcourt refinery at about $1.5billion approved in March 2021 by the Federal Executive Council then led by former President Muhammadu Buhari. Initially, the refinery operated at 70% of its nameplate capacity, producing premium motor spirit (PMS), automotive gas oil (AGO), and household kerosene (HHK) for domestic distribution.

The rehabilitation project, which began in 2021, was part of a broader initiative to revamp Nigeria’s refining capacity. The federal government aimed to unlock a total refining capacity of 117,000 bpd with the operational take-off of both the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries in late 2024.

The Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) established in 1978 and located in Warri, Delta State includes a petrochemical plant that produces 13,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene and 18,000 metric tonnes of carbon black annually.

Oyibo, who also is Chairman, Board of Trustees, Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, said the report that the Warri Refinery has been shut down and that the Port Harcourt refinery was not operating at advanced capacity and operations in spite of the humongous amount spent on their rehabilitations are unpalatable.

He urged Ojulari-led NNPC management to undertake technical audit of the refineries and ensure that they operated at appreciable capacity.

He stated that the refineries could still work well only that they need to be compliant with current refining technology.

He said: “Well, I don’t feel good about the report that Warri Refinery has been shut down. The refineries have been down for too long. And recently, Port Harcourt and Warri were opened. So, they should try to do whatever is out of their rocket science to put back the refineries into operation.”