NNPC CEO Bayo Ojulari has confirmed ₦500m monthly losses in non-functional refineries in Nigeria.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Bayo Ojulari, has disclosed that Nigeria’s refineries were recording massive losses of up to ₦500 million monthly when he assumed office.
Ojulari made this known in Abuja on Thursday while receiving a delegation from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), led by its president, Festus Osifo.
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He explained that years of neglect made rehabilitation extremely difficult, stressing that attempts to revamp the facilities had been far from optimal.
“When you fix one thing, another problem arises. One of my first priorities when I resumed was to review the refineries to see if they could be quickly restored. But what I found was alarming — we were losing between ₦300 million and ₦500 million every month,” Ojulari revealed.
Citing the Port Harcourt refinery as an example, he said about 950,000 barrels of crude oil were being supplied, but less than 40 percent of the input was converted into output.
Ojulari further clarified that the so-called “old” and “new” refineries were not separate facilities but designed to work as one, with the older unit feeding into the newer one to ensure standard-grade products. However, due to the dilapidated state of the plants, only mid-grade products were being produced and at a significant loss.
“That is why we could not properly refine Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). The mid-grade product we were producing was at a huge loss to all Nigerians. That was the real problem,” he said.
The NNPC boss emphasized that the inefficiencies underscore why efforts to rehabilitate the country’s refineries have remained a daunting task despite repeated interventions.
