‘Contractors owed for 12 months’ — PETROAN says NNPC CEO not interested in fixing PH refinery

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) says Bayo Ojulari, the group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, has not shown interest in fixing the Port Harcourt refinery.

On May 24, the NNPC shut down the refinery for maintenance.

In a statement on Monday, Sunny Nkpe, zonal chairman of PETROAN, eastern zone, expressed worry about the slow pace of activity at the old Port Harcourt refinery since the shutdown.

“The Port Harcourt refinery is key to the supply chain distribution of petroleum products all over Nigeria, supplying to major cities like Aba, Enugu, Makurdi, and other key states,” he said.

Nkpe called on “the GCEO of NNPC to give the Port Harcourt refinery top priority attention”, urging President Bola Tinubu to direct immediate action to revive the facility.

Nkpe said the delays appear to be orchestrated by vested interests seeking to sabotage the president’s vision.

He also said Ojulari “has not visited the refinery physically” within four months in office, adding that it indicates a lack of passion for restoring the plant’s operations.

“The contractors lamented that they are owed for over 12 months without funding,” Nkpe said.

The PETROAN zonal chair said repairs to the cracking and blending plant of unit 12 and unit 14 of the old refinery were almost completed before the new GCEO “gave no commitment and showed lack of interest”.

This, he said, “signals support to give a competitive advantage to private refineries to gain monopoly”.

Nkpe said restarting production at the refinery would stabilise petroleum product prices and reduce the dominance of private refineries.

He said when the facility operated for seven months, economic activities boomed, petty traders in the host communities benefited, jobs were created, and fuel prices remained stable.

“Above all, the prices of petroleum products were stable and at average, hence competition was at its peak,” the zonal chairman said.

Nkpe, who welcomed Ojulari’s appointment, said he is shocked at his “inability to show capacity in reviving the old Port Harcourt refinery, which was supposed to be fixed within 30 days from May 24th, 2025”.

The Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) operates two plants — the old facility with a capacity of 60,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) and a newer one with 150,000 bpsd — giving a combined capacity of 210,000 bpsd.

On June 11, Ojulari said the company was considering selling state-owned refineries due to repair challenges.

However, on July 30, he said there were no plans to sell the Port Harcourt refinery.