Nigeria’s Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company has been forced to halt operations less than six months after a $897 million rehabilitation, exposing systemic failures in the country’s oil sector and triggering a leadership purge at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). The refinery, declared operational in December 2024 by former NNPCL CEO Mele Kyari, was shut on January 25, 2025, due to critical safety flaws in its Crude Distillation Unit Main Heater-a collapse that has intensified scrutiny of Nigeria’s refinery management.
Key Developments
- Operational Collapse: The Warri refinery failed to produce Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) and operated for barely a month before the shutdown, despite Kyari’s earlier claims of a successful revival.
- Port Harcourt Struggles: The Port Harcourt Refinery, reopened in November 2024, operates at just 37.87% capacity, producing 82.55 million liters monthly-far below its 218 million liter target.
- Leadership Overhaul: NNPCL sacked managing directors of the Warri, Port Harcourt, and Kaduna refineries on April 30, replacing them amid pressure to meet President Bola Tinubu’s 3 million barrels/day production target by 2030.
Financial and Structural Concerns
Documents from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority reveal the Warri facility consumed $897.6 million in maintenance funds but remained nonfunctional, raising questions about oversight. Industry experts, including IPMAN’s Chinedu Ukadike, label the situation “disheartening,” urging a state of emergency in Nigeria’s refinery sector.Broader Implications
The shutdown underscores decades of mismanagement in Nigeria’s state-owned refineries, despite recent privatization efforts like the Dangote Refinery. With the NNPCL now under fire for opacity and $6 billion in unpaid fuel debts, analysts warn that persistent corruption and technical deficiencies threaten Tinubu’s plan to end fuel imports by 2027.As new NNPCL CEO Bayo Ojulari navigates the fallout, the Warri debacle has become emblematic of Nigeria’s struggle to reform its oil industry-a sector vital to economic revival but plagued by ineptitude and broken promises.