The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) may sell some of its refineries, according to its Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari.
Speaking during an interview with Bloomberg at the 9th OPEC International Seminar in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday, Ojulari said a strategic review of the company’s refinery operations is currently underway and expected to be concluded before the end of the year.
“So we’re reviewing all our refinery strategies now. We hope before the end of the year, we’ll be able to conclude that review,” Ojulari stated. “That review may lead to us doing things slightly differently.”
When asked whether the ongoing review could include plans to sell the refineries, he responded, “But what we’re saying is that sale is not out of the question. All the options are on the table, to be frank, but that decision will be based on the outcome of the reviews we’re doing now.”
Nigeria has for years been attempting to rehabilitate its long-dormant state-owned refineries, which include the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna facilities. Despite billions of naira reportedly spent on the projects, little progress has been made in achieving stable and sustainable operations.
The Port Harcourt refinery briefly resumed partial operations in November 2023 but was shut down again in May 2025 for maintenance. Ojulari attributed some of the setbacks to outdated infrastructure and underwhelming technological performance.
“So refineries, we made quite a lot of investment over the last several years and brought in a lot of technologies. We’ve been challenged,” he said. “Some of those technologies have not worked as we expected so far. But also, as you know, when you’re refining a very old refinery that has been abandoned for some time, what we’re finding is that it’s becoming a little bit more complicated.”
Ojulari stated that the cost of producing crude oil in Nigeria currently ranges between $20 and $30 per barrel. “For the cost of crude production, there’s a capital cost and there are the operating costs,” he said.
According to him, “The operating cost right now in Nigeria is hovering over $20 per barrel, which is quite high.” He attributed the high figure to the country’s significant spending on securing its pipeline infrastructure. “Part of that is because of the investment we’ve had to make in terms of security of our pipelines, which as you know, today we have 100 percent availability of our pipelines. That came out of significant investment.”
Despite the current cost level, Ojulari expressed hope that expenses would reduce in the future. “So we believe with time, with stability, that cost will start going down, but for now it’s somewhere between $25 and $30 a barrel,” he said.
He also disclosed that Nigeria is targeting increased output by the end of the year, aiming to reach 1.9 million barrels per day.
