Port Harcourt Refinery May Not Return to Production As Scheduled -PETROAN

Port Harcourt Refinery: The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), has observed with great concern the pace at which the rehabilitation of the refinery by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is ongoing may not meet the deadline as stipulated.

In a statement, High Chief Sunny Nkpe, Zonal Chairman of PETROAN, System 2E (Eastern Zone), expressed concern that the current Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC, Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari, has not yet visited the Port Harcourt Refinery physically within four months in office, indicating a lack of passion for the functionality of the Port Harcourt Refinery.

The Zonal Chairman who visited the Port Harcourt Refinery rehabilitation site last weekend as part of his oversight for fact-finding and was worried to see the slow pace of activity at the Old Port Harcourt Refinery (Area 5), which was shut down on May 24, 2025, for a 30-day scheduled repair.

He said stakeholders would be mobilised on the next line of action as agreed in the stakeholders’ forum.

According to him, the contractors lamented that they are owed for over 12 months without funding. All was set for the Old Port Harcourt Refinery to commence production as the necessary repairs scheduled for the cracking and blending plant of Unit 12 and Unit 14 of the old refinery were almost completed before the new Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC gave no commitment and showed lack of interest, which signals support to give a competitive advantage to private refineries to gain monopoly and exploit Nigerians with outrageous prices for petroleum products.”

The consultation, he said, will include all stakeholders negatively impacted by the dormant state of the refinery, including the Industrial Motor Branch (IMB) of NUPENG, Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) of NUPENG, the National President of PETROAN, the National President of IPMAN, the National President of NUGASAN, Sutakep, and others. Thousands of tanker drivers are out of job, including staff of PETROAN and IPMAN, and it is imperative that we agree on legitimate options to call for the revival of the Port Harcourt Refinery, the Chairman said.

He emphasized that the commencement of production at the Port Harcourt refinery will stabilize the price of petroleum products and reduce the dominance of private refineries. 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.

The Zonal Chairman therefore called on the GCEO of NNPC to give the Port Harcourt refinery top priority attention.

He, however, called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct immediate action to revive the Port Harcourt Refinery, as such unnecessary delays look orchestrated and appear to be coming from vested interests who intend to sabotage the vision of Mr. President.

Nkpe highlighted the impact of the seven months the Old Port Harcourt Refinery operated, as economic activities regained boom, petty traders within the host communities celebrated, and jobs were also created. Above all, the prices of petroleum products were stable and at average, hence competition was at its peak.

Nkpe said he was super excited when Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari was appointed as the new GCEO of NNPC, describing him as a technocrat coming from Shell Oil Plc, which has an international reputation.

However, he is shocked by his inability to show capacity in reviving the old Port Harcourt refinery, which was supposed to be fixed within 30 days since May 24th, 2025.

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