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Dangote Passes Death Sentence On NNPC Refineries
The President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has expressed his doubts over the possibility of the state-owned Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries functioning again.
Dangote also observed that the refineries, which are under the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), had gulped up to $18bn, without coming alive.
The billionaire businessman spoke on Thursday while hosting members of the Global CEO Africa from the Lagos Business School, after a tour of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos.
According to Dangote, the 650,000-capacity Dangote refinery, which he built after the government of late President Umar Yar’adua aborted his acquisition of the government refineries now has over 50 percent of its output dedicated to Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol.
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He pointed out that even government refineries committed just 22 percent of their production to petrol.
Dangote recalled how he and his team had to return the refineries to Yar’adua, a few months after former President Olusegun Obasanjo left office in 2007.
According to him, the former managers of the refinery had told Yar’Adua that Obasanjo sold the facilities below their costs as a parting gift to him.
“The refineries that we bought before, which were owned by Nigeria, were doing about 22 percent of PMS. We bought the refineries in January 2007. Then we had to return them to the government because there was a change of government.
“And the managing director at that time convinced Yar’adua that the refineries would work. They said they just gave them to us as a parting gift or so. And as of today, they have spent about $18bn on those refineries, and they are still not working. And I don’t think, and I doubt very much if they will work,” he said.
According to Dangote the turnaround maintenance of the refineries could be likened to trying to modernise a car built 40 years ago, after technology had advanced.
“(The turnaround maintenance) is like you trying to modernise a car that was built 40 years ago, when technology and everything have changed. Even if you change the engine, the body will not be able to take the shock of that new technology engine,” he stated.
Dangote’s comment buttressed Obasanjo’s comments last year about the refineries, two of which were shut down again after they were declared operational by the former NNPC Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, in Q4 2024.
Obasanjo had stated that the NNPCL was aware that it could not operate the refineries, saying international oil companies like Shell once refused to run the facilities when he requested them to do so.
According to Obasanjo, some Nigerians, including Aliko Dangote, once paid $750m to take over the refineries; however, his successor, Yar’adua, aborted the deal.
“I ran to him (Yar’Adua), I said, ‘You know this is not right’. He said, ‘Well, NNPC said they can do it.’ I said, ‘NNPC cannot do it,’ I told my successor that ‘the refineries, from what I heard and know, will not work and when you want to sell them, you will not get anybody to buy them at $200m as scrap’. And that is the situation we are in.
“So, why do we do this kind of thing to ourselves? NNPC knew that they could not do it, but they knew they could eat and carry on with the corruption that was going on in NNPC. When people were there to do it, they put pressure. In a civilised society, those people should be in jail,” Obasanjo had stated.
Again, in January, Obasanjo said, “I was told not too long ago that since that time, more than $2bn have been squandered on the refineries and they still will not work.
“If a company like Shell tells me what they told me, I will believe them. If anybody tells you now that it (the refinery) is working, why are they now with Aliko (Dangote)? And Aliko will make his refinery work; not only make it work, he will make it deliver.”
Obasanjo concluded with a Yoruba proverb, comparing inflated claims about the refineries’ performance to a farmer who planted 100 heaps of yam but falsely claimed to have planted 200.
“They say that after he has harvested 100 heaps of yams, he will also have 100 heaps of lies. You know what that means,” he said.
Calls for the privatisation of the government-owned refineries, under the management of NNPCL, intensified following the recent shutdown of the 60,000 barrels-per-day old Port Harcourt refinery, six months after it was declared operational.
The Warri refinery was also shut down one month after the former Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari, declared it open in December.
In the same vein, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) is of the view that the refineries were a drain on the country’s economy, calling on the Federal Government to sell off the facilities.
Likewise, crude refiners also advised the government to sell the refineries as scrap and use the proceeds to fund modular refineries, saying the facilities were a burden and liability to the government.
Recall that the Federal Government has consistently expended resources on the refineries, which went moribund many years ago.
It was gathered that $1.4bn was approved for the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery in 2021; $897m was earmarked for Warri and $586m for Kaduna refineries.
N100bn was reportedly spent on refinery rehabilitation in 2021, with N8.33bn monthly expenditure. $396.33m was spent on Turnaround Maintenance between 2013 and 2017. Despite all the financial allocations, the refineries remain unproductive at the moment.
Enhanced adoption of artificial intelligence and other digital technologies to improve operations in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry is taking the centre stage in relevant circles.
The issue came up strongly when the President-elect of the Nigerian Institute of Petroleum and Gas Engineers NIPetGE, Prisca Kanebi, paid a courtesy call at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), Abuja.
Biztellers reports that the Kanebi led delegation was received by the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Ltd, Bayo Ojulari, represented by the Executive Vice President, Gas, Power and New Energy, Olalekan Ogunleye.
According to a statement made available on Sunday, discussions at the meeting focused on the future of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon industry amid global energy transition concerns, technological changes and sustainability targets.
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The statement indicated that the NNPC Ltd acknowledged the role of NIPetGE in policy advocacy, technical development and innovation within the sector.
Speaking during the meeting, Kanebi highlighted recommendations from the institute’s recent conference, including the proposed establishment of a national centre for intelligent energy systems to support the deployment of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and robotics across the petroleum value chain.
She also commended the Federal Government’s decarbonisation efforts and reiterated the institute’s support for policies aimed at improving sustainability in the industry.
The institute also recommended the creation of a hydrocarbon-linked emissions trading system to allow Nigeria to take part in global carbon markets.
The institute also proposed fiscal incentives to support local manufacturing and service delivery in the oil and gas sector, as well as the expansion of the Energy Transition Plan to include measurable upstream decarbonisation targets backed by tax credits.
Other proposals included increased public-private partnerships in emission control infrastructure, carbon capture projects and hybrid renewable energy initiatives.
Both organisations also stressed the need for stronger collaboration between industry and academic institutions to improve professional capacity and align petroleum engineering practice in Nigeria with international standards.
The institute further disclosed that its bill seeking chartered status had passed second reading and was progressing towards a third hearing at the National Assembly.
It added that NNPC Ltd pledged support for future collaborations with the institute on initiatives aimed at improving efficiency and innovation in the energy sector.
Nigeria’s indigenous oil and gas companies are reopening dormant wells and ramping up production from assets acquired from international oil companies (IOCs) to boost crude oil output.
The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Nigeria Council, made the assertion through its Chairman, Francis Nwaochie, on the sideline of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) which ended at the weekend in Houston, Texas.
Nwaochie said indigenous operators were already taking advantage of opportunities created by disruptions in the global energy market to increase production from existing assets.
According to him, local firms that recently acquired onshore and shallow water assets from IOCs were aggressively reviving inactive wells and maximizing available infrastructure to raise output levels.
“What we are seeing now is that indigenous companies are reopening wells from the assets they acquired from the IOCs. Some of them have almost doubled production from those existing assets,”.
He explained that the renewed focus on dormant wells and existing facilities had become critical at a time the global oil market was facing supply shortages triggered by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
The SPE Nigeria Council Chairman noted that Africa, particularly Nigeria, was well positioned to benefit from the supply gap because of the continent’s relative stability compared to some other oil-producing regions.
“There is a huge opportunity for Africa right now. The focus is gradually shifting to Africa because of the volatile environment in many other producing regions.”
He stated that indigenous operators were leveraging digital technologies, financing opportunities and local expertise to improve production efficiency and optimise existing fields.
He added that stronger implementation of local content policies was also helping to create a more stable operating environment for oil and gas investments.
“Local content is very critical. Once communities and local companies clearly understand their roles and benefits, then you create peace across the industry. Business only thrives in peaceful environments.”
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Nwaochie also stressed the need for Nigeria to move beyond crude oil production and begin developing indigenous technologies for the energy industry.
According to him, SPE Nigeria Council was actively supporting innovation and technology development among young Nigerian engineers and researchers.
He disclosed that the association was engaging the National Universities Commission(NUC) on reforms to engineering curricula in universities to better prepare graduates for the future of the energy industry.
“One of our major focuses in SPE is technology development. We should not only import machines and equipment, we must begin to develop our own technologies locally.”
Nwaochie revealed that SPE was already supporting local innovators working on technologies such as remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs), noting that indigenous technology development will strengthen Nigeria’s economy and deepen local participation in the oil and gas sector.
“We may not get everything right immediately but we must start somewhere. That is how countries that dominate the global energy industry built their capacities.”
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