Nigeria's state-owned NNPC is "not in a hurry" to restart its three refineries, refinery coordinator Bayo Adenrele said at the Arda conference in Cape Town today.
The comment suggests that there is no fixed timeframe to rehabilitate the company's 210,000 b/d Port Harcourt, 125,000 b/d Warri and 110,000 b/d Kaduna refineries.
The independently-owned 650,000 b/d Dangote refinery — in which NNPC has a 7.25pc stake — is running at a high rate and helped Nigeria achieve net gasoline-exporter status last month. The country used to be heavily reliant on gasoline imports.
NNPC "will be in the mix" in the refining space, according to Adenrele, but would first focus on acquiring the right skill sets, operational excellence and partnerships, before returning its assets online.
The company appears to be gearing up for more durable long-term partnerships for running its refining assets, and is happy to slow down refinery restart processes.
NNPC is seeking partners "that have track records of running refineries," NNPC chief executive Bashir Ojulari said in early February.
