PETROAN To NNPCL: Stop Celebrating Refinery Restarts, Show Results

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has challenged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to stop celebrating refinery restarts and start measuring performance by output, plant availability, profitability and returns on investment.

PETROAN National President, Dr. Billy Gillis-Harry, said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed push to revive Nigeria’s refineries must translate into a binding, milestone-driven execution plan.

In a statement, the association welcomed Tinubu’s observation that a refinery showing “ordinary flame and smoke” does not necessarily mean it is operational.

PETROAN said Nigeria could no longer afford billions of dollars in rehabilitation spending without sustained production, noting that about $4.15 billion was spent on interventions in the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries between 1993 and 2019.

Another $3.14 billion rehabilitation package was approved in 2021, comprising $1.5 billion for Port Harcourt, $897.6 million for Warri and $740.67 million for Kaduna.

The association said parliamentary and union sources had put refinery operating and rehabilitation expenditure between 2020 and 2025 at about N11.35 trillion.

PETROAN noted that the Port Harcourt refinery resumed operations briefly in late 2024 before shutting down on May 24, 2025, for maintenance initially scheduled for 30 days. It said the plant had yet to resume operations when the statement was issued.

The association also cited an internal NNPC Ltd assessment in February 2026 which reportedly found the refineries operating at material losses.

PETROAN backed the National Assembly’s investigation into refinery rehabilitation spending, saying accountability must accompany future investment.

“Capital discipline is retrospective before it is prospective,” it stated, arguing that the problem was not simply funding but governance, technical ownership and accountability.

The association said petrol imports fell 96 per cent, from N2.271 trillion in the first quarter of 2025 to N87.4 billion in the same period of 2026.

Domestic refineries supplied 76.7 per cent of national petrol volumes in the first quarter of 2026, up from 45.2 per cent a year earlier.

But PETROAN warned that dependence on a single major domestic source could create a new supply vulnerability, stressing the need for multiple reliable sources.

It said restoring the 210,000 barrels-per-day Port Harcourt refinery and 125,000 barrels-per-day Warri refinery would add 335,000 barrels per day to Nigeria’s refining capacity and strengthen supply resilience.

PETROAN also welcomed the April 30, 2026, MoU between NNPC Ltd, Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xingcheng (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd for a proposed technical equity partnership covering refinery completion, operation, maintenance and expansion.

However, it warned that the MoU remained non-binding and urged the parties to establish firm completion dates, throughput guarantees, plant availability targets and penalties for non-performance.

The association also demanded independent technical due diligence, clarity on equity and capital commitments, reliable crude supply and implementation of the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation under the Petroleum Industry Act.

It warned that without dependable crude supply, even a rehabilitated refinery could remain stranded.

PETROAN further called for technology transfer to Nigerian engineers, improved product evacuation infrastructure and stronger pipeline security.

It said functional Port Harcourt and Warri refineries would reduce supply distances to the South-South and South-East, lower exposure to freight and foreign-exchange shocks and create jobs.

PETROAN said bringing the refineries into sustainable operation before the next general election would be a major economic achievement, but stressed that political timelines must not compromise engineering or safety standards.

“Delivery, not announcement, is the currency,” the association said. “A refinery that runs is its own argument.”

PETROAN said Nigeria has the crude, market and technical capacity to sustain domestic refining, but what is needed now is “execution discipline.”