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Refinery shut since May 24 despite NNPCL’s 30-day maintenance promise
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EFCC probing $1.5bn rehabilitation funds as N80bn traced to former MD’s account
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Fuel retailers fear shortages, blame NNPCL for lack of transparency
The Port Harcourt Refinery has remained shut for over a month beyond its scheduled 30-day maintenance, sparking widespread concern and suspicion over Nigeria’s refinery rehabilitation programme.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), which promised the facility would resume operations by late June, has offered no new explanation as the plant stays idle into its second month.
The shutdown, which began on May 24, 2025, was initially described as a routine maintenance exercise. The NNPCL, through its then Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, had assured the public that the process was part of efforts to ensure “sustainability and performance efficiency.”
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“This scheduled maintenance and sustainability assessment will commence on May 24,” Mr. Soneye said in an official statement.
But more than 60 days later, the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) is still non-functional, and fuel retailers in Eleme and Okrika are warning of looming scarcity and price hikes.
“We are worried about a potential shortage of fuel and price inflation,” one retailer in Eleme told reporters.
Behind the scenes, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has ramped up investigations into the management of over $1.5 billion earmarked for the refinery’s rehabilitation.
Multiple sources confirmed that the EFCC is probing alleged misappropriation involving the sacked managing directors of the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries, as well as 13 other top NNPCL executives.
In one instance, investigators found N80 billion in the account of a former MD—an alarming discovery that further compounds the credibility crisis surrounding NNPCL’s operations.
The former NNPCL Group CEO, Mele Kyari, who declared the refinery 70% operational in November 2024, has also been implicated in the sweeping corruption probe.
READ ALSO: EFCC Nabs Five Ex-NNPCL Executives Over $7.2 Billion Refinery Fraud
While the NNPCL had claimed the Port Harcourt plant was producing diesel, fuel oil, kerosene, and PMS at 70% of its 60,000 bpd capacity, those operations have now come to a standstill.
The company has not responded to press inquiries about when operations will resume or how far the maintenance work has progressed.
An EFCC source said the pattern is all too familiar.“The lack of transparency in refinery management is systemic. This shutdown doesn’t surprise us at all. We hope the investigation will finally expose the rot.”
