By Tekena Amieyeofori
The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, PETROAN, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for shifting the national conversation on state-owned refineries from rhetoric to commercial performance, but insists the government must now convert intent into milestone-bound execution.
In a press statement jointly signed by Mr Chris Odia, Special Adviser on Media, PETROAN, and Dr Joseph Obele, National Public Relations Officer, the association said the President’s avowed commitment to end the historical cycle of failed refinery revivals marks a turning point for the nation’s economy.
PETROAN also commended the President for accepting “the assets and liabilities of preceding administrations without recourse to blame”, noting that institutional continuity was critical for investor confidence.
Trillions spent, little to show
The association noted that about $4.15 billion was sunk into projects designed to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries between 1993 and 2019. In March 2021, the Federal Executive Council further approved $3.14 billion for the same purpose.
Despite the funding, the Port Harcourt refinery only briefly resumed operations in late 2024 before it was shut on May 24, 2025 for maintenance. To the dismay of stakeholders in the petroleum downstream sector, it has remained dormant since then. In February 2026, NNPC Limited itself reported that the plants were running at material losses.
It is against this backdrop that PETROAN has endorsed the National Assembly’s ongoing inquiry into the application of the funds. “A rehabilitation programme that cannot explain its own cost history cannot credibly forecast its future performance,” the statement said.
From import dependence to single-source risk
PETROAN acknowledged gains made by private refining. It cited data showing Nigeria’s petrol import bill fell from ₦2.271 trillion in Q1 2025 to ₦87.4 billion in Q1 2026, while domestic refineries supplied 76.7% of petrol volumes, up from 45.2% a year earlier.
However, the association warned that replacing import dependence with reliance on a single domestic supplier only changes the shape of risk.
“Refineries undergo scheduled turnarounds. Plants suffer unplanned outages. A retail network that serves tens of millions of daily transactions requires plurality of supply as a matter of engineering prudence,” it stated.
Restoring 210,000 barrels per day at Port Harcourt and 125,000 bpd at Warri, it argued, would add 335,000 bpd of geographically distributed capacity and improve resilience, price discipline and regional balance.
Conditions for China MoU
PETROAN welcomed the April 30, 2026 Memorandum of Understanding between NNPC Ltd and Chinese firms Sanjiang Chemical and Xingcheng Industrial Park for a Technical Equity Partnership covering the two refineries.
It, however, demanded that the non-binding MoU be reviewed to produce a firm agreement with clear, enforceable terms. PETROAN said the reviewed agreement must include: defined completion dates; disclosure of equity split, capital commitments and offtake arrangements; independent technical due diligence; guaranteed crude supply under the Petroleum Industry Act; substantive transfer of operating knowledge to Nigerian engineers; and secured product evacuation with equitable access for independent retailers.
“Equity aligns incentives in a way that fee-based rehabilitation contracts never have,” the association noted.
Impact on downstream and communities
Speaking for the downstream sector, PETROAN said its members carry the working-capital risk of price swings and employ several hundred thousand Nigerians across forecourts, haulage, maintenance and allied services.
Working refineries in Nigeria’s South-South geopolitical zone, it said, would mean shorter supply lines, lower freight costs and reduced exposure to foreign-exchange volatility. It further observed that reviving Warri and Port Harcourt refineries would also resuscitate local economies of contractors, artisans and small businesses.
PETROAN added that bringing the two refineries into sustainable operation before the next general election would rank “among this administration’s most consequential economic achievements” but cautioned that safety and commissioning standards must not be sacrificed for political timelines.
The association commended Comrade (Dr.) Salimon Akanni Oladiti, National President of NUPENG, for keeping refinery revival on the national agenda and for advocating an end to labour casualisation in the upstream sector.
Concluding, PETROAN said: “Nigeria has the crude, the engineers, the market, and now the political will. What remains is execution discipline, and execution discipline is a choice.”