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.
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