NNPCL may sell refineries after 2025 review – GCEO
National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has said that it may sell the three refineries of Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna depending on the outcome of its 2025 review.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, who gave the hint during an interview on the sidelines of the ongoing 9th Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries International Seminar in Vienna, Austria, insisted that the outcome of the company’s review of its downstream operations would guide its action.
Nigeria continues to depend on importation to meet its petroleum use due to lack of functional refineries, despite having three.
The lack of functional refineries has compelled the country to depend heavily on imported refined petroleum products, significantly impacting the national economy.
He said, “We’ve made quite a lot of investments in our refineries over the last several years and brought in a lot of technology. We’ve been challenged – some of those technologies have not worked as expected so far. But also, as you know, when you are refining a very old refinery that has been abandoned for some time, what we found is that they are a little bit more complicated.
“So, we are reviewing all our refinery strategies now. We hope that before the end of the year, we will conclude that review. That review will lead us to doing things slightly differently.”
When asked about the possible sale of the old refineries, Ojulari said, “I can’t say that now. But what we are saying is that sale is not out of the question. But all the options are on the table. But that decision will be based on the outcome of the review.”
Ojulari also said that the company is ramping up production as it battles to bring capacity to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2027. He added that Nigeria also plans to raise output from 7 billion cubic feet to 10 billion cubic feet by 2027.
Daily crude production presently stands at 1.63 million barrels.
“As part of our production growth plans, we aim to increase oil production capacity to 2 million barrels per day and expand gas output from 7 billion to 10 billion cubic feet per day by 2027, with further growth expected beyond that.
“The growth has already begun. Around March this year, we produced about 1.56 million barrels per day. We’re now at approximately 1.63 million, including condensates, and we’re hoping to reach 1.9 million barrels per day by the end of the year,” he said.
The NNPCL helmsman explained that the company has been working with communities, local vigilante groups and security agencies to secure oil and gas pipelines.
This, according to him, has yielded more sustainable results in pipeline availability.
“I can give a lot of assurances concerning our pipelines because where we are, we have come a long way. It wasn’t a quick fix. It took several years to get the government’s policies aligned. We have now gotten government security agencies also working with local surveillance groups, who are from the communities, providing sustainability and jobs for the community.
“What we have now is a bit more sustainable. In the past, it was around the use of policing, and it was very clear that policing alone wasn’t going to work. We needed to create a sustainable means of livelihood and interdependency with the community. So, my confidence is built on the premise that today’s security is driven by the communities, far more than what we had before. So, I am quite optimistic,” he added.
