Nigeria’s state oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, has signed a memorandum of understanding with two Chinese firms to revive the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, assets that have consumed over $2.4 billion in public funds with little output to show.
The agreement, signed in Jiaxing, China, brings NNPC into a proposed Technical Equity Partnership (TEP) with Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xinganchen (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd. The deal is aimed at completing outstanding engineering work, as well as ensuring long-term operation and maintenance of the refineries.
NNPC Group CEO Bashir Bayo Ojulari, alongside Sanjiang Chairman Guan Jianzhong and Xinganchen Chairman Bill Bi, signed the three-party agreement.
Once central to Nigeria’s domestic fuel supply, the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries have remained largely dormant for years despite multiple rehabilitation efforts. Combined, they have the capacity to significantly reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported fuel, if fully operational.
Under the proposed partnership, the refineries will undergo completion of stalled construction and upgrades to meet modern fuel standards. The agreement also outlines plans to expand petrochemical production and develop gas-based industrial hubs around the facilities, adopting a model widely used in China’s industrial zones.
NNPC said the deal follows more than six months of technical and commercial discussions, signalling a shift toward leveraging Chinese industrial expertise and financing to resolve long-standing inefficiencies in Nigeria’s refining sector.
However, the agreement remains a framework for further negotiations and regulatory approvals. Binding commitments, timelines, and execution milestones are yet to be finalised, raising familiar concerns given Nigeria’s history of refinery revival plans that failed to materialise.
The deal comes as pressure mounts on Nigeria’s refining sector, particularly with the emergence of the Dangote Refinery, whose large-scale operations are already reshaping the country’s fuel supply dynamics.
For NNPC, the success of this latest partnership will depend not on announcements, but on execution, delivering operational refineries that can compete on cost, efficiency, and output in a rapidly evolving energy market.
