Bayo Ojulari has revealed that Nigeria’s state-owned refineries were being run at an enormous financial loss, a situation that compelled his leadership team to shut them down to stop further damage to the economy.

Ojulari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), made this disclosure in Abuja during a fireside discussion titled “Securing Nigeria’s Energy Future” at the Nigeria International Energy Summit 2026.

He said public frustration over the refineries was justified, considering the huge sums invested over the years and the long-standing belief that the facilities would guarantee steady domestic fuel supply. According to him, these expectations placed intense pressure on the new management.

Ojulari explained that when he took over the role, refining was not an area he was deeply familiar with, as most of his career had been spent in the upstream segment of the oil and gas industry. However, he stressed that leadership demanded fast learning and firm decision-making.

He said an early and thorough assessment of the refineries quickly exposed the scale of the losses being incurred. Despite regular crude oil supply, the plants were operating at only about 50 to 55 per cent capacity, while operational and contractor costs continued to rise, resulting in significant value loss.

Ojulari noted that although losses can occur during investment phases, there was no clear or realistic path to recovery in this case that could justify keeping the refineries running. As a result, his administration took the difficult decision to suspend operations in order to reassess their viability and prevent further financial drain.

He added that the quality and commercial value of the refined products also played a role in the losses. Using the Port Harcourt Refinery as an example, he explained that the crude processed there yielded mostly mid-grade products whose total value did not justify the cost of inputs.

The NNPCL boss acknowledged that the shutdown attracted political pressure, as the company had traditionally been expected to keep refineries running to ensure fuel availability. However, he maintained that decades of training in commercial discipline made it impossible to ignore the financial realities.

Nigeria has four government-owned refineries—two in Port Harcourt, one in Warri and one in Kaduna—which have struggled with inefficiency for years despite repeated turnaround maintenance projects costing billions of dollars. At different times, the facilities have either operated at extremely low capacity or been completely shut down, leaving Africa’s largest oil producer heavily dependent on imported petroleum products.