Let Them Come And Explain — Lokpobiri Demands Answers From NNPC Over Refineries

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, has called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) to provide Nigerians with a clear explanation of the current situation surrounding the country’s refineries.

Lokpobiri made the call during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, while responding to questions surrounding previous claims about the operational performance of the refineries and subsequent concerns over their actual output.

According to Bush Radio Academy, the minister said Nigerians deserved to have access to the full facts before conclusions were drawn about the condition and performance of the facilities.

“I will tell them to come. Let them come and explain,” Lokpobiri said when asked about the controversy surrounding the refineries.

He said it would be inappropriate to make hasty judgments without establishing the facts concerning the operations of the facilities, stressing the importance of transparency in discussions about the country’s refining capacity.

Lokpobiri also spoke about Nigeria’s crude oil production, saying output had been increasing and that the Federal Government was targeting production of more than two million barrels per day.

He put the country’s average production, including condensates, at about 1.84 million barrels per day. The 1.84 million barrels per day figure is also the production benchmark contained in Nigeria’s 2026 budget, while recent NUPRC data showed August combined crude and condensate production at about 1.68 million barrels per day.

The minister identified ageing infrastructure as one of the major challenges limiting further increases in crude production and evacuation.

According to him, several pipelines across the country are more than five decades old, making it difficult to move additional crude even when production capacity improves.

Lokpobiri said NNPC had commenced a comprehensive overhaul of the pipeline network, which he said was expected to gradually improve the country’s ability to evacuate crude oil.

He also disclosed that some oil operators were bringing previously shut-in wells back into production through re-entry programmes, which he linked to recent changes in the ownership and operation of some oil assets.

Among the developments he referenced were the transfer of some of Shell’s former assets to Renaissance Africa Energy and Seplat’s acquisition of ExxonMobil’s onshore business.

The minister said the return of previously shut-in wells, alongside other measures being implemented in the upstream sector, was contributing to the gradual recovery in Nigeria’s crude oil production.

The renewed scrutiny of the state-owned refineries comes as the Federal Government continues to push for improved domestic refining and greater value from Nigeria’s petroleum resources. President Bola Tinubu said in August that the country’s state-owned refineries would undergo a structural and operational reset aimed at making them productive and profitable.