THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited under former Group Managing Director, Mr Mele Kyari, spent nearly $3 billion on the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries, but none of them is working at the moment.
In March 2021, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the sum of $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery in Rivers State. The then Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr Timipre Sylva, said the rehabilitation would be done in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months. By implication, Port Harcourt refinery was supposed to be completed in 3 years and 8 months.
In August 2021, FEC also approved the sum of $1.48 billion for the rehabilitation of both Warri and Kaduna refineries. This puts the budget for the three refineries at $2.98 billion – nearly $3 billion of public funds.
Failed promises
Mr Kyari gave various dates of completion for the refineries which did not happen. On September 21, 2019, Mr Kyari said Nigeria’s refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna would become operational and refine crude oil at optimum capacity by 2022. This was even before the contracts for the refineries were awarded.
READ ALSO: Calls grow for extensive probe into Mele Kyari’s NNPC tenure
In November 2020, Mr Kyari told energy correspondents in Abuja that “the vision of revamping the pipelines is in tandem with the Refineries Rehabilitation Project which we have promised to deliver by 2023.”
He added, “I am happy to announce that the funding challenge which had stalled the second phase of the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery has been resolved. The contract for the second phase will soon be awarded and work will commence in Q1 of 2021,” he said.
On March 15, 2024, Mr Kyari also repeated his promise after failing to keep same earlier. The ex-NNPC GMD said the Port Harcourt refinery would begin production by the end of March 2024. Kyari spoke at a meeting with the Senate ad hoc committee investigating the various turnaround maintenance (TAM) projects of Nigerian refineries.
“In the next two weeks, production will start. We did mechanical completion of Port Harcourt, that was what we said in Dec 2023,” he said on March 15.
Related Articles
“That means we are done with our rehabilitation work, now you are to test if this completion is okay,” he noted. Mr Kyari also claimed that mechanical works had been completed at Warri refinery, noting that the facility was undergoing regulatory compliance procedures.
On November 26, 2024, the NNPC under Mr Kyari said Port Harcourt refinery had commenced production, claiming that truck loading of petroleum products began that day.
Former Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC, Mr Femi Soneye, said this in a post on his X handle on November 26 morning. “PortHarcourt Refinery begins production; truck loading starts today, Tuesday,” Mr Soneye had said.
READ ALSO: Exclusive: NNPC spends N17trn on refineries’ turnaround maintenance in 20 years
On December 30, 2024, My Kyari claimed during a facility tour that Warri refinery had commenced operations.
Who are the contractors?
Maire Tecnimont SpA is the contractor that handled the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery. The rehabilitation of Warri and Kaduna refineries were awarded to Saipem SPA and Saipem Contracting Limited at the combined total sum of $1.484 billion, according to former Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr Sylva.
Failure to compete
These promises given by Mr Kyari have failed to materialise. The Punch reported on June 25 that former NNPC spokesman, Mr Soneye, had told its correspondent on May 23 that the refinery would be shut down for maintenance. In fact, marketers said the refinery never produced petrol months before its latest shutdown.
IPMAN’s Publicity Secretary, Mr Chinedu Ukadike, had told the Punch that the refinery had not produced any fuel in the past few months, wondering why the NNPC was just announcing a shutdown at that time.
Related Articles
“The refinery has been down for years before it was rehabilitated and reopened last year. Now, they are shutting it down again. That means something is wrong. To the best of my knowledge, the refinery has not been producing anything in the past three months. This shutdown is just to save their face,” Mr Ukadike said.
Similarly, Warri refinery is still not working. In May 2025, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) called for the completion of rehabilitation work on the new Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries.
President of PETROAN, Mr Billy Gillis-Harris, president of PETROAN, said: “Despite numerous assurances from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its officials, the projects have suffered repeated setbacks, with completion deadlines being missed multiple times.”
READ ALSO: Nigerians question NNPC’s $2.8bn deal with Dangote Refinery
“PETROAN therefore demands that the NNPC provide a specific and realistic timeline for the completion and commissioning of these refineries, especially the second Port Harcourt Refinery rehabilitation project.”
Mr Kyari was sacked by President Bola Tinubu in early April 2025.
On September 2025, Kyari was interrogated by the EFCC.
READ ALSO: After lying to Nigerians, NNPC admits $6.8bn debt, plans petrol price hike
In 2026, the EFCC charged the immediate past Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), Ahmed Adamu Dikko, and his counterpart at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Jimoh Olasunkanmi Yisawu, with money laundering over the alleged diversion of funds earmarked for the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s moribund refineries.
Related Articles
