Bulk petroleum retailers in Port Harcourt have disagreed with the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Bayo Ojulari, over his comments on the shutdown of the Port Harcourt refinery.

Ojulari had stated that the refinery was losing as much as N500m every month on operations before rehabilitation works were suspended. According to Ojulari, the refinery was pumping about 50,000 barrels of crude, but less than 40 per cent of the equivalent of what was going in was being processed effectively.

He said, “When I resumed, one of the first priorities I focused on was the refinery. I did a quick review to see if we could quickly fix it. What I found is that we were losing between $300m and $500m on a monthly basis,” Ojulari said. “The first thing we said was, ‘Rather than continue to lose, let’s quickly stop and look for a way to put this refinery into a sustainably profitable venture.’”

However, the Host Community Bulk Petroleum Retailers, in a statement issued by an official of the group, Joseph Obele, expressed concerns over Ojulari’s statement, saying it vindicated their suspicions that he was working in favour of a private refinery.

“The GCEO mentioned that upon assuming office, he found that operating the refinery was resulting in financial losses, prompting the decision to halt operations in search of a sustainable solution. This statement has vindicated stakeholders in the oil and gas sector who earlier suspected that the GCEO of NNPCL was working in favour of a private refinery at the expense of the nation-owned refinery,” the statement read partly.

The retailers alleged that Ojulari’s actions and decisions seem to prioritise the interests of a private refinery over the public refineries, including the Port Harcourt refinery. They claimed that the refinery was shut down despite spending billions of dollars on its revamp, which could have been allowed to continue running while the review process was ongoing.

They called for the revamp of the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries, urging President Bola Tinubu to take decisive action in making the refineries functional to boost GDP and create jobs. “We urge President Bola Tinubu to take decisive action in making the refineries functional to boost GDP and create jobs,” the statement concluded.

Meanwhile, Ojulari earlier disclosed that it would require about $60bn in fresh investments to meet President Tinubu’s mandate of ramping up oil and gas production and expanding the nation’s refining capacity.

He stressed that attracting such investment would depend largely on sustained transformation, investor confidence, and strengthened partnerships with operators, government agencies, and accountability institutions such as NEITI. (Sunday PUNCH)