The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has announced its plans to hand over the operations and maintenance of the Warri and Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Companies to private operators. The purpose is to hire reputable and competent operations and maintenance (O&M) companies to better manage these facilities. The announcement was made in a message posted on NNPCL's official account on Friday.

The Warri Refinery, located in Delta State, was put into service in 1978 and has a nameplate distillation capacity of 6.25 million metric tons per annum (MTA), approximately 125,000 barrels per day (bpd). The refinery complex also includes a petrochemical plant commissioned in 1988, with production capacities of 13,000 MTA of polypropylene and 18,000 MTA of carbon black. The facility predominantly supplies petroleum products to markets in the southern and southwestern areas of Nigeria.

Similarly, the Kaduna Refinery, which had an initial capacity of 50,000 barrels per day (B/D), was put into service in 1980 to meet the petroleum needs of Northern Nigeria. The capacity was doubled to 100,000 B/D in 1983 with the addition of a second crude train for the production of lubricating oils. The refinery's overall nameplate capacity was raised to 110,000 B/D in 1986 after additional expansion raised the first crude train's capacity to 60,000 B/D.