Industry operators and energy experts have raised serious concerns over the operational integrity of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), questioning its transparency, efficiency, and management of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries.
The criticism follows a fresh revelation that the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) has been shut down since January 25, 2025, barely a month after former NNPCL Group CEO, Mele Kyari, declared it operational. The shutdown was attributed to critical safety faults in the refinery’s Crude Distillation Unit Main Heater, according to an April 2025 report from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The report disclosed that despite gulping $897.6 million in maintenance costs, the 125,000-barrels-per-day Warri refinery failed to produce any Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) before being shut down. Industry stakeholders described the situation as “disheartening” and “indicative of deeper systemic failures.”
The WRPC, situated in the Ekpan, Uwvie, and Ubeji areas of Warri, was commissioned in 1978 and was intended to serve markets across Nigeria’s southern and southwestern regions. It has a petrochemical unit capable of producing 13,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene and 18,000 metric tonnes of carbon black annually.
In December 2024, NNPCL had announced that the Warri refinery had resumed operations at 60% capacity. President Bola Tinubu even praised the company for completing the long-overdue refurbishment. But the latest data from the NMDPRA shows the plant has remained idle since late January 2025 due to safety concerns, directly contradicting earlier public assurances.
Also under scrutiny is the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), which was recommissioned in November 2024 following a $1.5 billion rehabilitation project. Though NNPCL claimed the facility was running at 70% capacity with plans to ramp up to 90%, the NMDPRA report paints a different picture.
According to the document, PHRC—designed to refine 60,000 barrels per day—is operating at just 37.87% capacity. Between November 2024 and April 2025, it produced an average of 82.55 million litres of refined products monthly—far below the projected 218 million litres.
The refinery’s production includes components for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), Automotive Gas Oil (diesel), Household Kerosene, Jet Fuel, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), enabled by its Hydrocracker Unit. At full capacity, PHRC was expected to output daily volumes of 1.4 million litres of gasoline, 900,000 litres of kerosene, 1.5 million litres of diesel, and 2.1 million litres of Low Pour Fuel Oil, among others.
The underperformance of both refineries has sparked renewed questions about NNPCL’s capacity to deliver on its promises despite heavy financial investments and repeated deadlines. Experts say the developments highlight broader issues around project execution, accountability, and governance in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.