By Saidu Abubakar
Checks by the Valuechain have revealed that Nigeria is the most famous case, but not the only OPEC-member nation with dysfunctional refineries. In fact almost all the OPEC-member countries outside the Gulf have their respective refinery problems.
- NIGERIA – The worst government refineries, but now has a private one (Dangote). Four (4) government refineries: Port Harcourt 1 and 2 (210k bpd), Warri (125k), Kaduna (110k) = 445k total capacity. All have operated at 10% for 20 years, despite the over $25bn spent on Turn Around Maintenance (TAM). The exception now is Dangote Refinery (650k bpd), commissioned in 2024, is actually working and is why petrol price is falling.
- VENEZUELA – Worse than Nigeria,
OPEC founder. Has 6 refineries (1.3m bpd capacity) but because of sanctions, lack of maintenance and PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.) collapse, they run at 10-15%. Venezuela – the country with the world’s largest oil reserves – now imports petrol from Iran. - LIBYA – Has 5 refineries (Zawiya, Tobruk, Ras Lanuf etc, 380k bpd). But since 2011 civil war, they are constantly shut by militias blocking pipelines. Zawiya refinery was threatened to shut just recently because an armed group closed the Sharara pipeline.
- IRAQ – Has 16 refineries (1m bpd) but most were damaged in wars. Baiji (310k), its biggest, was destroyed by ISIS. Still imports petrol.
- IRAN – Has huge refining capacity (2.2m bpd) and it works, but sanctions mean it can’t get spare parts, so efficiency is low and it still struggles.
Gulf OPEC members with exception: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, have world-class refineries. Aramco’s Jizan (400k) and UAE’s Ruwais (837k) are among the biggest in the world.
So Nigeria’s government-owned refineries are uniquely dysfunctional for the size of its oil production, but the pattern of “OPEC member that can’t refine its own oil” is very common and it’s the resource curse.