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.
Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Bayo Ojulari, made this clear during a company-wide town hall meeting held at the NNPC Towers in Abuja, effectively putting an end to weeks of speculation surrounding the future of Nigeria’s flagship state-owned refinery
A statement by the company management on Wednesday read, “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.”
Ojulari described any suggestion of selling the refinery as “ill-advised and sub-commercial,” signaling a clear policy direction to maintain national control over the asset.
His clarification follows public concern triggered by remarks made at the 2025 OPEC Seminar in Vienna, where he had stated that “all options are on the table” regarding the future of Nigeria’s refining sector.
The statement triggered a wave of speculation that a sale might be imminent.
He stated that the new position of the firm isn’t a shift. Rather, it is informed by ongoing detailed technical and financial reviews of the Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri refineries.
The statement added, “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.
”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.”
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