Lokpobiri Asks NNPC to Explain Nigeria’s Refinery Situation

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, has called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) to explain the current state of the country’s refineries to Nigerians.

Lokpobiri made the call during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday while responding to concerns over claims about the performance and capacity of Nigeria’s refineries.

The minister said Nigerians deserved transparency on the issue and promised to ask the NNPC to provide clarification on the situation.

“I will tell them to come. Let them come and explain,” Lokpobiri said.

His comments followed questions over earlier claims that some of the country’s refineries had reached full capacity, with subsequent concerns raised about their actual output.

Lokpobiri said it was important to establish the facts before reaching conclusions about the performance of the facilities.

“I’ve said here that it is better for us to have the full facts about these refineries so that we don’t make any hasty conclusions,” he said.

The minister also disclosed that Nigeria’s crude oil production had increased, putting current output at an average of about 1.84 million barrels per day, including condensates, based on figures from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

He said the government was working to raise production beyond two million barrels per day, but ageing infrastructure remained a major challenge.

“The reason why we are not able to do more than this is because of the state of our infrastructure,” Lokpobiri said.

According to the minister, many of Nigeria’s pipelines are more than 50 years old, limiting the country’s ability to evacuate additional crude even when production increases.

He said NNPC had commenced a comprehensive pipeline rehabilitation programme that would gradually improve crude evacuation capacity.

Lokpobiri also said oil companies were working to bring previously shut-in wells back into production through re-entry programmes. He linked the efforts to recent asset transfers involving Shell’s former assets, now operated by Renaissance Africa Energy, and Seplat’s acquisition of ExxonMobil’s onshore business.

The minister said the measures were contributing to the gradual increase in Nigeria’s crude oil production while efforts continued to address infrastructure constraints.