Nigerians Knock NNPC For Warri Refinery Repair Failure After Reportedly Spending $897 Million
- Nigerians have berated the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) over the state of the Warri Refinery
- The refinery, which reportedly consumed $879.6 million to repair, has been shut since January 25, 2025, due to safety issues
- The continued shutdown of the refinery has raised doubts among industry players who doubt the effectiveness of the repair work
Legit.ng’s Pascal Oparada has reported on tech, energy, stocks, investment and the economy for over a decade.
Petroleum industry operators and experts have criticised the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) regarding the purported overhaul of Nigerian refineries.
The development comes after it emerged that the Warri Refinery has remained inoperable after it shut down for maintenance on January 25, 2025, due to safety issues in its Crude Distillation Unit Main Heater.
Source: Getty Images
NMDPRA estimates Warri Refinery repairs at $879.6m
In April 2025, a document by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) showed that the Warri Refinery gulped $879.6 million in maintenance costs and had failed to produce petrol and was shut down less than one month after the erstwhile NNPC GCEO, Mele Kyari, declared it functional.
Industry watchers have decried the development, describing it as discouraging, as further findings indicated that the Port Harcourt Refinery now operates below 40% of its capacity.
Legit.ng reported that the Warri Refinery restarted operation on December 30, 2025, after many years of being moribund.
The facility has a yearly capacity of 13,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene and 18,000 metric tonnes of carbon black.
Warri Refinery shut for maintenance
According to a Punch report, President Bola Tinubu praised the NNPC for completing the revamping of the Warri Refinery.
The refinery focused on warehousing critical products such as straight-run kerosene, diesel, and heavy and light Naphtha.
The former NNPC boss had said many Nigerians doubted the revamping of the facilities and invited prominent Nigerians on the facilities’ tour.
However, the NMDPRA document provided detailed production statistics for each of the refineries in Nigeria, revealing that the Warri plant has remained closed since January this year.
The report cited faults in the facility’s Crude Distillation Unit Main Heater as the reason.
NMDPRA said:
“The Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company was shut down on 25th Jan. 2025 due to safety concerns over the CDU Main Heater,” the document stated.
Port Harcourt Refinery produces less than capacity
The agency further disclosed that the Port Harcourt refinery operates at about 37.87% of its installed capacity six months after the revamp.
The Port Harcourt refinery’s monthly production data indicated that it produced about 82.55 million litres of refined petroleum products from November 2024 to April 2025, 135.45 below its production of 218 million litres monthly.
The NMDPRA document contradicts NNPC claims issued by its spokesman, Olufemi Soneye, that the Port Harcourt facility was operating at 70% capacity.
The Port Harcourt refinery produces PMS blending components such as straight-run petrol, straight-run naphtha and diesel.
It is equipped with a hydrocracker unit, producing high-value fuels such as aviation fuel, household kerosene, cooking gas, and naphtha.
NNPC said during the refinery’s commissioning that it would produce about 1.4 million litres of straight-run petrol daily blended into PMS, 900,000 litres of Kerosene, 1.5 million litres of diesel, and 2.1 million litres of Low Pour Fuel Oil, and additional volumes of cooking gas.
The Port Harcourt refinery gulped $1.5 billion to rehabilitate, which was funded by international financial institutions, and was estimated to restore it to full operational status after remaining dormant for several years and suffering seven postponements.
PETROAN celebrates 180 days of the PH refinery’s operation
Legit.ng reported that the Petroleum Products Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) celebrated the 180-day uninterrupted production of the facility.
PETROAN disclosed in a statement signed by Joseph Obele, its national publicity secretary, that the refinery had been dormant for over two decades.
Obele said that PETROAN members loaded diesel and Kerosene from the facility, while NNPC marketers loaded PMS.
Source: Twitter
According to the PETROAN spokesman, the refinery was commissioned in October last year and ran for 180 days non-stop until March 2025, a remarkable feat showing the effectiveness of the repair work.
Dangote Refinery reacts to shutting down petrol processing unit
Legit.ng earlier reported that reports made the rounds over the weekend that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Lekki, had shut down its petrol processing unit for maintenance.
The report claimed that the unit had to undergo some repairs and would be shut down till the exercise was completed.
It added that this included the residue fluid catalytic cracker, a core part of the gasoline-making unit at the refinery.
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Source: Legit.ng
