The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has declared that the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) is not for sale, ending weeks of speculation surrounding the future of the state-owned facility.
The company’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Bashir Ojulari, made this known during a town-hall meeting held in Abuja on Wednesday.
He explained that NNPC plans to raise additional funding to complete the ongoing rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery, along with the two other refineries under its management.
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has officially ruled out the sale of the Port Harcourt Refining Company, reaffirming its commitment to completing high-grade rehabilitation and retention of the plant,” a statement from NNPC confirmed.
Recall that in a recent interview with Bloomberg at the 9th OPEC Summit in Vienna, Ojulari had hinted that all options were being considered when asked if the government might opt for an outright sale of the refineries.
“We made quite a lot of investment in our refineries over the last years. We brought in a lot of technologies. We’ve been challenged as some of those technologies have not worked as we expected so far.
“As you know, when you’re reviving a very old refinery that has been abandoned for some time. What we discover is that it’s becoming a lot more complicated.
“I can’t say that now. But what we are saying is that sale is not out of the question. All the options are on the table, to be frank. But that decision will be based on the outcome of the reviews we are doing now,” Ojulari had said.
However, the latest announcement appears to put that conversation to rest.
What you should know
Between 2002 and 2012, NNPC received approval for over N16 trillion in funding for turnaround maintenance of the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries.
The company is now exploring advanced technical partnerships to speed up the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt facility.
Ojulari described any potential sale of the refinery as “ill-advised and sub-commercial.”
According to NNPC, the reaffirmed stance is not a policy reversal, but a position based on the findings of ongoing technical and financial reviews of the three refineries.
“The ongoing review indicates that the earlier decision to operate the Port Harcourt refinery, before full completion of its rehabilitation, was ill-informed and subcommercial,” the company added.
“Although progress is being made on all three, the emerging outlook calls for more advanced technical partnerships to complete and high-grade the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery. Thus, selling is highly unlikely as it would lead to further value erosion.”
The Port Harcourt refinery consists of two units—the older one with a capacity of 60,000 barrels per day (bpd), and a newer unit with 150,000 bpd—bringing the combined capacity to 210,000 bpd.
The facility has not operated at full capacity for over two decades.
It was shut down in March 2019 for the first phase of repairs after the government engaged Italy’s Maire Tecnimont for a comprehensive review. Oil major Eni was appointed as technical adviser.
In 2021, NNPC announced that rehabilitation had officially commenced following the Federal Executive Council’s approval of \$1.5 billion for the project.
On December 21, 2023, the federal government declared mechanical completion and flare start-up at the refinery.
Production resumed in November 2024 after years of rehabilitation.
However, in May 2025, NNPC announced another shutdown of the facility.