Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is considering selling some of its state-owned refineries due to the complexities encountered in their rehabilitation.
Gatekeepers News reports that the company, according to Bayo Ojulari, the Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NNPC, has invested heavily in the refineries, but the technologies introduced have not yielded the expected results.
“We made quite a lot of investment over the last several years and brought in a lot of technologies. We’ve been challenged,” Ojulari said in an interview with Bloomberg on the sidelines of the 9th OPEC international seminar in Vienna, Austria.
“Some of those technologies have not worked as we expected so far. But also, as you know, when you’re refining a very old refinery that has been abandoned for some time, what we’re finding is that it’s becoming a little bit more complicated.”
The NNPC boss stated that the company is currently reassessing its refinery strategies and aims to finalize the review by year-end. The outcome of this review may lead to a change in approach, including the possibility of selling the refineries.
“But what we’re saying is that sale is not out of the question. All the options are on the table, to be frank, but that decision will be based on the outcome of the reviews we’re doing now,” Ojulari added.
Meanwhile, the NNPC is working to increase oil output to 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the year. The operating cost of oil production in Nigeria currently ranges between $20 and $30 per barrel, largely due to significant investments in pipeline security.
The Port Harcourt refinery, which commenced crude oil processing in November, shut down in May for maintenance, while the Warri and Kaduna refineries are still undergoing rehabilitation.
