The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari, has stated that the sale of the country’s non-performing refineries, including those in Warri, Port Harcourt, and Kaduna, remains a possibility as the company undertakes a comprehensive review of its downstream operations.

Ojulari made this known in an interview with Bloomberg on the sidelines of the 9th Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) International Seminar in Vienna on Thursday. According to him, despite significant investments and technological interventions in the past, the refineries have proven more complicated to revive than previously anticipated.

“We’ve made quite a lot of investments in our refineries over the last several years and brought in a lot of technology. We’ve been challenged – some of those technologies have not worked as expected so far,” he said. “When you are refining a very old refinery that has been abandoned for some time, what we found is that they are a little bit more complicated.”

He added that a full review of NNPCL’s refining strategy would be concluded before the end of 2025 and that all options—including outright sale—remain on the table.

“Sale is not out of the question. All the options are on the table. But that decision will be based on the outcome of the review,” he added.

Ojulari’s comments come at a time when pressure is intensifying for the government to permanently exit refinery ownership. Earlier this month, the Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Segun Ajayi-Kadiri, urged the Federal Government to fully privatize the state-owned refineries, which he described as “symbols of waste, inefficiency, and entrenched mismanagement.”

“Those four refineries are a pure drain on the Nigerian economy, and it is not fair to the Nigerian people,” Ajayi-Kadiri said. “The government should just sell these refineries. Give them to private sector people who will run them efficiently and be able to deliver. When something belongs to everybody, it belongs to nobody.”

His remarks echoed the widespread frustration over the decades of failed promises to revive the facilities. Over the years, the government has poured more than $3 billion into the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries without delivering any meaningful output.

In 2021 alone, the Port Harcourt refinery was awarded a $1.5 billion rehabilitation contract, while an additional $1.48 billion was earmarked for Warri and Kaduna refineries. That same year, NNPC confirmed it had spent over N100 billion on repairs, despite the fact that the refineries refined zero barrels of crude.

The refineries have remained inactive for years, even as Nigeria—Africa’s top oil producer—continues to rely almost entirely on imported petroleum products, spending billions in scarce foreign exchange and subjecting consumers to endless cycles of fuel scarcity.

“We are the sixth-largest producer of crude oil in the world, yet we suffer,” Ajayi-Kadiri said. “If you completely go private, it will be difficult for anyone to steal. It will be difficult to be unaccountable.”

In the same interview, Ojulari highlighted the NNPCL’s revamped approach to oil infrastructure security. He said the company now works directly with host communities and local vigilante groups, in partnership with state security forces, to protect oil pipelines.

“It wasn’t a quick fix. It took several years to get the government’s policies aligned. But what we have now is more sustainable,” he said. “Security is now driven by the communities, far more than what we had before.”

Ojulari also addressed concerns about supplying crude to the Dangote Refinery, stressing that there would be no government compulsion in the arrangement.

“First of all, Dangote refinery is a commercial investment, not a national one. It has the flexibility to import crude for its survival and also has the flexibility to serve all customers,” he said. “So, if Nigeria is going to supply more crude to the Dangote refinery, it will be on a commercially willing buyer, willing seller basis—not because it is a policy.”

Ojulari revealed that Nigeria is ramping up production efforts, with a goal to hit 2.06 million barrels per day by 2027. As of March, production stood at 1.56 million barrels per day; it now hovers around 1.63 million, including condensates. He projected an increase to 1.9 million barrels per day by the end of 2025.

On gas, he disclosed that Nigeria plans to grow output from 7 billion cubic feet to 10 billion cubic feet per day by 2027.

The NNPCL’s strategic shift comes amid years of public disappointment with its downstream operations, especially the prolonged failure to revive Nigeria’s refineries. With the Dangote Refinery now coming on stream and the government advocating a market-led petroleum industry, many believe the time has come to cut losses and exit refinery ownership entirely.

Ojulari’s remarks signal that such a move may no longer be off the table—though Nigerians remain skeptical, having heard similar promises before. Whether the latest review leads to real reform or simply another cycle of bureaucracy remains to be seen.