Bayo Ojulari, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, says the company is discussing a potential partnership with a Chinese firm over one of the state-owned refineries.
Ojulari spoke on Wednesday during the ongoing Nigerian
International Energy Summit (NIES) in Abuja.
The GCEO did not disclose which refinery (Warri, Port
Harcourt, or Kaduna) is involved, citing “commercial sensitivity”.
The NNPC chief said he recently met with the Chinese firm,
describing it as “one of the biggest petrochemical plants in China”, without
giving a name.
“I’m just coming from a meeting with one of the potential
investors, where we are looking at their plans. They are going to the refinery
tomorrow to inspect,” he said.
“Well, because of commercial sensitivity. What I can tell
you is that it’s a Chinese company that has one of the biggest petrochemical
plants in China. And we also have a few other companies as well.”
Ojulari said NNPC’s current strategy, as approved by its
board, is to partner with companies that have a proven track record in running
refineries.
“We are not looking for contractors. We are not looking for
operations and maintenance (O&M). We are looking for an entity that runs
refineries to come in,” he said.
“We are looking for them to buy some of our shares. So when
you say sell, we will not say we are selling Nigerian refineries.
“Just like we’ll probably look at options where we can sell
down some of our equity, so that they have a skin in the game.”
Ojulari said the NNPC would work with the prospective
partners based on their operational expertise.
He explained that the partners would take the lead in
running the refineries, while the NNPC would focus on rebuilding its capacity,
skills, and support systems.
“And our mantra for the refinery is that our solution is
about putting a sustainable solution in place for it to self-finance itself,
for it to run like a business,” Ojulari said.
“We know that everywhere in the world, refinery margins are
very high. So there’s no way NNPC — with the structure we have — can run a
profitable refinery. We don’t have the capacity right now.”
He said the oil company needs to bring in additional
operational capacity to complement what it already has.
Ojulari added that the NNPC is willing to give up as much
equity as necessary to secure a long-term, sustainable partnership.
The state-owned oil firm had shut down the Port Harcourt
Refining Company (PHRC) for maintenance in May 2025.
Operations at the Warri and Kaduna refineries were also
halted for rehabilitation work.
In November of the same year, the NNPC announced plans to
partner with private refinery operators to fix the ailing plants after they
were reviewed.
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