Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Bayo Ojulari, made the announcement during a company-wide town hall meeting, ending weeks of speculation over the future of the country's most prominent state-owned refining asset.
Ojulari described selling the refinery as "ill-advised and sub-commercial," citing ongoing detailed technical and financial reviews of the Port Harcourt, Kaduna, and Warri refineries.
The NNPC Ltd stated that the review indicates that the earlier decision to operate the Port Harcourt refinery before full completion of its rehabilitation was ill-informed and sub-commercial.
Instead, the company plans to pursue advanced technical partnerships to complete and high-grade the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery, making a sale highly unlikely as it would lead to further value erosion.