After Handing Over Retail Assets to OVH Energy, NNPC Seeks to Privatise Warri and Kaduna Refineries

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has announced plans to engage reputable Operations and Maintenance (O&M) companies to take over the operation and maintenance of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company.

This development follows the recent handover of NNPC’s retail assets, including petrol stations, to OVH Energy Marketing Limited, a company linked to Wale Tinubu.

The NNPC disclosed its intention in a statement released on Friday via its official X handle, indicating a shift in the management approach for its critical refining assets.

The Warri Refinery, located in Delta State and commissioned in 1978, is a complex conversion refinery with a distillation capacity of 125,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The refinery also includes a petrochemical plant commissioned in 1988, with production capacities of 13,000 metric tons per annum (MTA) of polypropylene and 18,000 MTA of carbon black.

Similarly, the Kaduna Refinery, commissioned in 1980, was initially built to supply petroleum products to Northern Nigeria with a capacity of 50,000 bpd.

The refinery’s capacity was later expanded to 110,000 bpd through various upgrades, including adding a crude train dedicated to lubricating oil production.

NNPC’s move to seek external operators for these refineries comes shortly after its downstream arm, NNPC Retail, transferred all its assets and ownership to OVH Energy Marketing Limited. OVH Energy, which now manages Oando’s downstream assets, is partly owned by Wale Tinubu, a nephew to President Bola Tinubu, who holds a 49% stake in the company.

However, NNPC denied the involvement of President Bola Tinubu in the controversial acquisition deal of NNPC retail by OVH Energy Limited.

This was contained in a press statement released Thursday by NNPC’s Chief Corporate Communication Officer, Olufemi Soneye. 

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