NNPCL, Chinese Firms Sign Agreement On Restart, Expansion Of PH, Warri Refineries After Buhari’s Barren $2.39bn Jamboree
The NNPC Ltd has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with two Chinese companies, Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xinganchen (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd, for collaboration through a potential Technical Equity Partnership in support of the completion and operation of the Port Harcourt and Warri Refineries.
The MoU was signed by the Group CEO, NNPC Ltd, Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari; Chairman, Sanjiang Chemical Company, Guan Jianzhong and Chairman of Xinganchen (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd, Bill Bi, in Jiaxing City, China, on Thursday, April 30, 2026.
The Federal Government had spent $2.39 billion under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to repair the two refineries.
The Port Harcourt Refinery was said to have been completed, with production starting in November, 2024 but it was shut down after six months.
But Odeh in the statement released on Monday quoted the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari, as saying that the MoU execution served as a significant milestone, following more than six months of concerted engagement between the technical and management teams of NNPC and the two Chinese partners, Sanjiang and Xinganchen.
He did not say how much Nigeria would pay for the new rehabilitation.
The then Minister of state for petroleum resources, Timipre Sylva, had announced that the rehabilitation of Warri and Kaduna refineries would be awarded to Messrs Saipem SPA and Saipem Contracting Limited at the combined total sum of $1.484 billion and would be rehabilitated in three phases of 21, 23 and 33 months.
Sylva had said $897,678,800 would be spent to repair Warri refinery while Kaduna refinery would gulp $586,902,256, noting that the completion of the rehabilitation exercise would be in three phases spread over 77 months period.
The potential framework would cover completion of outstanding work at the two refineries, together with operating and maintaining both facilities to achieve best-in-class, sustainable performance. Planned expansion and upgrades would elevate both facilities to cleaner, more profitable product standards.
The potential collaboration also contemplates expanding the refineries’ petrochemical capacities and harnessing gas and downstream opportunities through the development of co-located, gas-based industrial hubs.
Speaking shortly after signing the dotted lines, the GCEO NNPC Ltd, Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari, described the MoU execution as a significant milestone, following more than six months of concerted engagement between the technical and management teams of NNPC and the two Chinese partners.”All parties recognise mutually beneficial opportunities for the development and long-term sustainable profitability of NNPC’s refining assets in Nigeria, and the collective weight required for success,” Ojulari noted.
The GCEO further stated that the MoU is a significant step on the journey towards identifying potential technical equity partner(s) to restart and expand NNPC’s refineries, and to explore opportunities in co-located petrochemicals and gas-based industries.
The MoU reflects the parties’ shared intent to progress discussions in good faith, with any definitive arrangements to follow in due course and subject to customary approvals.
