Amid official claims of planned maintenance, local petroleum marketers in Rivers State have strongly denied that the Port Harcourt refinery is currently undergoing any form of repair or rehabilitation. Instead, they allege that the shutdown of the facility stems from a deliberate and prolonged denial of crude oil supply.
The Eleme & Okrika Host Community Bulk Petroleum Retailers Association, a coalition of independent fuel retailers, made this known during a press briefing on Thursday. The group challenged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd)’s official position, accusing the state-owned oil company of misleading the public.
According to the marketers, the Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC) had been starved of crude for more than three months prior to the eventual halt in operations on May 24, 2025. This contradicts a recent NNPC statement asserting that the refinery operated until last Friday before a scheduled maintenance shutdown was initiated.
“The refinery has been denied crude oil for some days now,” said Joseph Obele, spokesperson for the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), and a key figure in the host community retailers’ association. “The shutdown was not for maintenance as claimed. Based on an internal memo from PHRC, the facility was only producing Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), not Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), rendering operations uneconomical.”
Obele further alleged that the crude meant for domestic refining might have been diverted to international buyers in defiance of President Bola Tinubu’s policy against the export of crude allocated for local refining. He warned that if crude supply was not restored, there would be no way for the refinery to resume production within the promised 30-day window.
“There is no crude in the reservoir. Restarting this refinery in 30 days is wishful thinking without restoring the supply chain,” he added. “We’re raising an alarm for President Tinubu to take urgent action and investigate where the domestic crude allocation is being diverted to.”
Echoing this sentiment, the association’s Board of Trustees Chairman, Sunny Nkpe, praised President Tinubu’s resolve to revamp Nigeria’s comatose refineries but demanded greater transparency in crude distribution. He also called for the appointment of a qualified Managing Director to oversee the final stages of the Port Harcourt refinery rehabilitation.
Nkpe also urged regular briefings from contractors and NNPC officials to keep stakeholders informed of progress and mitigate the risk of sabotage or systemic neglect.
While the NNPC spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, was unavailable to respond to the latest allegations, he had earlier issued a public statement asserting that the refinery was undergoing “a scheduled critical safety maintenance exercise” to improve performance. He insisted the one-month maintenance process would follow global best practices, and that there would be no disruption in national fuel supply during the shutdown.
“We have enough volumes of AGO, kerosene, and other products to ensure uninterrupted supply,” Soneye stated. “NNPC Ltd remains committed to delivering sustainable energy security for Nigeria.”
However, this assurance has done little to allay the fears of local stakeholders. Fuel marketers in the region insist that no maintenance activities are visible on site and warn that unless the crude supply issue is addressed promptly, the refinery—much like the one in Warri—could remain idle indefinitely.
Industry observers note that the situation raises fresh questions about transparency in Nigeria’s oil sector. With ongoing reforms under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and mounting pressure on the Tinubu administration to reduce fuel imports, the inability to operationalise critical refineries could derail economic projections and energy security targets.
The Port Harcourt refinery, one of Nigeria’s major refineries, was partially reactivated in December 2023 after years of neglect and promises of rehabilitation. The Federal Government had assured Nigerians that it would operate at full capacity by the end of 2024. But the recent shutdown—and the conflicting narratives around it—may signal deeper operational or political challenges behind the scenes.
As the nation awaits clarity, the concerns raised by community-based petroleum retailers highlight the fragile state of Nigeria’s downstream oil sector and the urgent need for credible oversight.