The fresh move for rehabilitation of the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries has sparked reactions as industry stakeholders, policy observers, and civil society groups expressed doubt about the success of the exercise.
They have called for a comprehensive audit of billions of dollars spent on past repairs before the Nigerian government proceeds with a new deal involving Chinese firms to fix the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.
The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) had announced on May 4, 2026, that its Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with two Chinese companies to revamp the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.
In a statement, NNPC said the agreement signed under “a technical equity partnership” framework with Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xinganchen (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Company Limited covers the completion of outstanding work on the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, as well as their operation and maintenance.
The agreement was signed in Jiaxing City, China, with Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xinganchen (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd under a proposed technical equity partnership framework, according to a statement issued by NNPC.
The national oil company said the move was part of efforts to restore production capacity at the refineries and strengthen domestic refining operations after years of failed Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) and stalled projects.
Skepticism Over Technical Competence
The development has attracted scrutiny from industry stakeholders, analysts and CSOs who are questioning the technical capacity of the companies involved, financial structure and transparency of the partnerships amid renewed debate over Nigeria’s long-running refinery rehabilitation challenges.
The growing opposition stems from decades of failed rehabilitation projects that have cost billions of dollars but left the country dependent on imported fuel.
Dele Oye, a former president of the Organised Private Sector (OPS), alleged that the two companies have no technical competence to either rehabilitate or manage a refinery.
Oye, who is currently the Chairman of Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics (AERE), said that when compared to the company that had been handling the Turn Around Maintenance of the refineries (Technimont SPA and Saipem), the two Chinese firms were no match, both in terms of Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) and crude oil refinery experience.
He said Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited is into chemicals in the downstream, while Xinganchen (Fuzhou) is into industrial park management.
He said NNPC has not resolved the past issues of arbitrary awards of contracts for rehabilitation and maintenance of the refineries.
Concerns Over Financial Transparency and Legal Risks
The legal expert and business leader cited cases such as the Process & Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) saga, which could have led to Nigeria paying the company a staggering $11 billion if the UK High Court didn’t overturn the arbitration award, which was about 30 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP at the time.
“We are playing into another one. Have we resolved the past? Out of the $1.5 billion that was allocated for rehabilitation of the Warri refinery, how much was disbursed, and what were the deliverables?” Oye asked, adding that NNPC has been silent on that.
He said his group’s recommendation is that NNPC should not go ahead with the deal because the two Chinese companies “have nothing to offer Nigerians.”
“In terms of money, they don’t have, in terms of technical capacity, they don’t have the capacity and experience,” he added.
The ex-president of NACCIMA also called on President Bola Tinubu to look into the deal and cancel it, arguing that even though NNPC is now a public company, it is still controlled by the government because it has not gone public.
Also, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) said the deal lacks transparency, adding that it may likely go the way of previous contracts for the rehabilitation of the refineries that failed after billions of dollars had been spent.
In a statement released on Sunday, NECA President Adewale Oyerinde stated that while the country desperately needs functional refineries to boost domestic refining capacity and energy sufficiency drive, it would be unpatriotic to support another “opaque deal” while questions about past rehabilitation contracts that failed to deliver remain unanswered.
“It is on record and apt to say that the nation cannot afford another trail of wasteful spending,” Oyerinde stated.
The NECA DG further stated that the country has spent about $25 billion in the last few years on facilities with zero value.
“Between 2010 and 2023, Nigeria expended over N11tn – approximately $25bn – on refinery rehabilitation projects, maintenance, and turnaround programmes, yet the state-owned refineries remain significantly unreliable and non-functional,” Oyerinde said.
He added that $1.5 billion was approved in 2021 for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery, which failed to deliver.
The NECA DG called on NNPC to demonstrate transparency by providing adequate information about the project to Nigerians. He also called for the privatization of the refineries instead of costly rehabilitation, which will deliver zero results.
Another group, the Centre for Energy Sector Transparency (CEST) expressed concern about the partnership, describing it as another recycling of failed policies and a reflection of a lack of accountability.
The group warned that the project may become another expensive experiment with no significant results if the underlying issues of governance are not addressed.
Divergent Views: The “Energy Park” Vision
However, a public policy analyst and economist, Professor Ken Ife, said it is “unfair” to describe those Chinese companies as technically incompetent without finding out what they really do.
Speaking on Arise News TV’s ThisDay Live on Sunday, Professor Ife, who said he had made inquiries into the activities of the companies, called on NNPC to be more transparent about the partnership project to avoid giving room for speculation.
While noting that the NNPC had spent about $13 billion in over a decade on rehabilitation and maintenance of the state-owned refineries without much success, Ife insisted that the latest partnership comes with a vision of building an “energy park.”
According to him, the two Chinese companies are bringing what he described as “complementary characteristics.”
He said one of the Chinese companies, Sanjiang, “has a reputation and record in vertical integration” for crude refining and petrochemical processing, while the second one, Xinganchen, is reputed in horizontal integration, picking up products coming out of a refining facility to create other products.
“The main vision I can see is a vision of an energy park,” Ife stated.
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He emphasised that the question now should be what kind of corporate framework and road map would guide the processes for efficient results.
The public policy analyst suggested that the government should adopt the NLNG model, where the government takes only 49 per cent equity stake and leaves 51 per cent to the private partners to run the operations for efficiency.
Ife countered Oye’s position on the deal and described the report by AERE as “baseless”.
He argued that the government is not going to put more money into the project, adding that the products would be export-oriented to guarantee sustainable cash flow.
A History of Short-Lived Resumptions
Pinnacle Daily reports that the old Port Harcourt refinery with 60,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) capacity had resumed operations in November 2024, following the announcement of completion of rehabilitation by the NNPC. However, the plant was shut down on May 24, 2025, for assessment. This came barely six months after it resumed operations in late 2024.
The Warri Refining & Petrochemicals Company (WRPC) in Delta State resumed operations in December 2024, following the rehabilitation. The plant, which had been idle since 2015, was said to be operating at 60 per cent after its restreaming, but shut down again in January 2026, one month later.
Both the old and new refineries in Port Harcourt have a combined installed capacity of 210,000 bpd.
The Warri refinery has 125,000 bpd capacity, while the Kaduna refinery has 110,000 bpd capacity. All have a combined 445,000 bpd refining capacity, but it remains moribund.
The Path Forward: Accountability or Privatization?
The demand for accountability comes at a sensitive moment as the emergence of large private facilities, such as the Dangote Refinery, has altered public expectations. While energy economists highlight the need for local refining to reduce foreign-exchange pressure, the debate remains split between those who favor continued rehabilitation and those who believe that partial privatization or outright concessioning is the only realistic path.
Ultimately, stakeholders agree on one necessity: the increasing need for transparency before any further funds are committed.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist, scholar and analyst of socioeconomic issues in Nigeria and Africa. He is skilled in energy reporting, business and economy, and holds a master's degree in Mass Communication. He can be reached via @VICTOREZEJA on X