The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited injected an estimated N13.2tn into the country’s three state-owned refineries between 2023 and 2024, even as the facilities continued to record heavy losses and failed to operate on a commercially viable basis.
The spending, which covered turnaround maintenance, operations, and bank charges, was revealed in NNPC’s 2024 financial statements and later acknowledged by the company’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, who described the refineries as a major financial burden on the country.
Ojulari spoke during a fireside chat titled Securing Nigeria’s Energy Future at the Nigeria International Energy Summit 2026 in Abuja, where he offered rare insight into the cost and performance of the long-troubled assets.
“The first thing that became clear, and I want to say this very clearly, is that we were running at a monumental loss to Nigeria. We were just wasting money. I can say that confidently now,” he said.
According to the financial records, the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries owed NNPC about N4.52tn at the end of 2023. This figure rose sharply to N8.67tn by the close of 2024, bringing the combined exposure to roughly N13.2tn over the two-year period.
NNPC explained that the growing balances reflected continued funding of refinery operations and finance costs as efforts were made to revive the plants. However, the refineries remained net cost centres, generating little to no revenue to offset the spending.
The Port Harcourt refinery accounted for the largest share, with obligations rising from N1.99tn in 2023 to N4.22tn in 2024. Warri refinery’s debt increased from N1.17tn to N2.06tn, while Kaduna refinery’s obligations climbed from N1.36tn to N2.39tn over the same period.
Ojulari noted that crude oil was supplied regularly to the refineries, but utilisation remained weak. “We were pumping crude into the refineries every month. But utilisation was around 50 to 55 per cent. We were spending a lot of money on operations and contractors. But when you look at the net, we were just leaking away value,” he said.
He added that the absence of a clear recovery path influenced the decision to halt operations and reassess the assets. “Sometimes you make a loss during investment, but you have a line of sight to recovery. That line of sight was not clear here,” Ojulari said.
As of the end of 2024, the refineries still carried N8.67tn in outstanding obligations to NNPC, underscoring the scale of the challenge facing Nigeria’s refining sector.
