Reviving local refineries: Waiting for Ojulari’s magic
The newly appointed Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Bashir Ojulari, has his job cut out for him as being beyond turning around the fortunes of the national oil interest. It also includes establishing a paradigm shift in the country’s energy stability calculus, with the NNPCL as […]
The newly appointed Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Bashir Ojulari, has his job cut out for him as being beyond turning around the fortunes of the national oil interest. It also includes establishing a paradigm shift in the country’s energy stability calculus, with the NNPCL as catalyst.
Given the situation where the fortunes of the refineries – rightly or otherwise – mirror the state of affairs across the entire oil and gas sector of the country, inspite of other areas of progress, accepting the job has already imposed on him the burden of serving as a ‘whipping boy’ or ‘poster boy,’ as circumstances will decide, for the company with its not so commendable operational record. The situation also impels on him the charge to change the entire narrative of the country’s oil and gas sector, with a front-burner position for remediating the faltering fortunes of NNPCL-operated refineries, which were moribund for decades, with even the efforts to revive them before his advent proving not fully successful.
It is noteworthy that before his advent, the country’s market for refined petroleum products has been subjected to challenging circumstances. From the decades-old era of preponderant dependence on imported products, it has now lapsed into a dispensation where a cluster of domestic refineries are joining the supply train with varying capacities, and the Dangote Refinery changing the game with its humongous 650,000 b/d capacity.
One of the first challenges to Ojulari remains the disturbing role of being a spectator and even a victim in a field he should have been the star. With its four government-owned refineries – two in Port Harcourt and one each in Warri and Kaduna – their moribund state has made Ojulari’s NNPCL not only a toothless bulldog in the market but the owner and operator of critical national assets now consigned by one section of the public to the slaughter slab, while the other advocates intensive care for their future.
It was, therefore, with great expectations that Nigerians waited for Ojulari’s take on the situation and received his recent assurance that under his watch, the country’s refineries would work. This of course remains a notable reversal of his earlier vacillation on a possible sale of the facilities or otherwise.
Delivering a keynote address last Wednesday titled, “Building a Resilient Oil and Gas Sector in Nigeria: Advancing HSE, ESG, Investors and Incremental Production,” at the 2025 Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) Energy and Labour Summit (PEALS 2025) at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, Ojulari, among other points, gave the assurance. With respect to how the NNPCL would transform to achieve the restoration of the refineries, Bayo Ojulari highlighted the company’s renewed focus on operational excellence and investor confidence, propelled by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), along with aligning “with evolving global market dynamics.” Averring further, he called for resilience in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector to drive “concrete reforms across operations, governance and partnerships”.
Talking about the new dispensation being a new legal framework set by the PIA, Ojulari noted that the NNPCL is now operating under a new business model focused on value creation, competitiveness and efficiency. “This includes restructuring joint ventures, monetising assets and investing in critical infrastructure across the value chain”.
The GCEO emphasised that beyond production volumes, the future of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry lies in adopting strong Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices, noting that global investors and local communities now assess energy companies not just by what they produce, but how they produce such.
This new stand by Ojulari establishes a clear template by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration on the future of the country’s oil and gas sector in general and the refineries in particular, as the ‘oracle’ so to say, has laid bare. However, whereas this choice by Ojulari may represent a contrary view to the trending mindset by some vested interests (including himself earlier), which is to sell off the refineries to new investors, the grounds for optimism over his current stand are clear. Most important of these is the arrival of the omnibus PIA, which now directs the country’s oil and gas business in any ramification. Another ground derives from the concern for national interests, whereby the country shall not find itself someday at the mercy of private non-altruistic control of the country’s oil and gas sector, with implications of compromise of strategic national security.
Nevertheless, while Ojulari’s position remains a landmark dispensation as the official roadmap for the sector, charting the course offers significant challenges to the country. In one vein lies the groundswell of opposition to the rehabilitation of the NNPCL-operated refineries with well-disposed advocates in this camp. Among them are former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a host of big business interests, as well as not-surprisingly Aliko Dangote, the owner of the Dangote Refinery, who is believed to be speaking from a purely business perspective – apparently to diminish competition to his facility.
With Bayo Ojulari picking up the gauntlet to tackle the challenge of reviving the state-owned refineries, he needs to walk the talk by availing Nigerians working facilities that are not only functional but competitive and stable in their market presence.
Needless to state that given the metaphorical ‘demons’ in the NNPCL precincts, it will take him more than vision and technical know-how to make progress. A key requirement is a closer rapport with the refinery product marketers like PETROAN, IPMAN, MOMAN etc to source their patronage. This is in line with the emerging imperatives of the industry.