By Monsurat Abisoye
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has announced that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Chinese firms for the rehabilitation and operation of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries has entered a rigorous evaluation stage.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Bayo Ojulari, disclosed this in a post on his official X account, explaining that restoring Nigeria’s refineries requires more than replacing equipment and carrying out repairs. According to him, the company is pursuing a performance-based business partnership model designed to deliver profitable and self-sustaining refineries rather than temporary solutions.
Ojulari stressed that the MoU is not a binding agreement but an arrangement to explore collaboration with prospective partners, who will bear the full cost of the due diligence process to ensure decisions are based on technical assessments and commercial realities. He added that the partnership could also stimulate investments in the broader energy sector, including petrochemicals and gas-based industries such as methanol plants.
The development follows the signing of an MoU on 30 April 2026 between NNPC Ltd and two Chinese companies—Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xinganchen (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd—to explore the rehabilitation and possible co-management of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries under a new business model.
The arrangement is expected to provide technical expertise, financing, and operational efficiency to facilities that have recorded years of losses and repeated shutdowns. The Port Harcourt Refining Company comprises two plants with a combined installed capacity of 210,000 barrels per day, while the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company has a nameplate capacity of 125,000 barrels per day. Together with the 110,000-barrels-per-day Kaduna refinery, the facilities have consumed billions of dollars in rehabilitation spending over the years without achieving sustainable operations.
The latest move comes amid renewed calls from petroleum marketers and industry operators for the Federal Government to conclude negotiations with capable international partners. The National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, recently urged the government and NNPC to accelerate discussions, arguing that Nigeria can no longer continue spending heavily on refinery rehabilitation without achieving lasting production.
Industry stakeholders believe that securing experienced technical partners could reduce the country’s dependence on imported petroleum products, strengthen energy security, and complement supplies from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and other modular refineries. The outcome of the ongoing evaluation process is expected to determine whether Nigeria’s long-running efforts to revive its state-owned refineries will finally succeed or add another chapter to the country’s troubled refining history.
