After initial pause, Aradel targets 2027 PMS refinery expansion
- August 15, 2026
Aradel Holdings Plc is targeting 2027 for the commencement of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) production at its 11,000 barrels-per-day modular refinery in Ogbele, Rivers State, as deregulation of Nigeria’s downstream petroleum market opens new opportunities for private refiners.
Temitayo Ogunbanjo, General Manager, Refinery, Aradel Holdings, disclosed this in an interview with Bloomberg on the sidelines of a conference in Abuja, saying the removal of government control over petrol pricing had created a clearer commercial pathway for the company to produce gasoline.
The company’s Ogbele refinery currently produces products including diesel, kerosene, gas oil, and naphtha.
The planned PMS production would add another major product to Aradel’s refining portfolio and position the company to compete in a petrol market increasingly dominated by locally refined products.
The development comes after Aradel had previously indicated that its gasoline production train would come on stream earlier.
In May 2025, Africa Oil+Gas Report reported that the company’s 3,000-bpd gasoline production train had been mechanically completed and that commissioning was expected to take about 12 months.
The publication said the key technical requirements included sourcing sweet naphtha and hydrogen and upgrading the refinery’s power plant to ensure an uninterrupted electricity supply to the highly sensitive process unit. (africaoilgasreport.com)
Aradel had also explained that its decision to proceed with the PMS project was closely linked to the deregulation of the petrol market. The company had earlier delayed the investment because of uncertainty over whether it would be able to sell the product profitably under the regulated pricing regime.
The planned gasoline production is expected to strengthen Aradel’s vertically integrated business model, which spans crude oil production, gas processing, and refining.
Aradel is one of Nigeria’s most vertically integrated indigenous energy companies, with operations extending from its upstream assets to a 100 million standard cubic feet per day gas processing plant and its 11,000-bpd Ogbele refinery.
The company’s refinery has evolved considerably since Aradel, formerly Niger Delta Exploration & Production Plc, began with a 1,000-bpd automotive gas oil train. It subsequently expanded the facility to three modular trains with a combined capacity of 11,000 barrels per stream day.
The refinery has also become an increasingly important source of revenue for the company.
In 2023, Aradel’s refined products, including automotive gas oil, dual-purpose kerosene, marine diesel oil, heavy fuel oil, and naphtha, generated $157 million in 2023, compared with $170 million from crude oil exports.
In November 2025, the refinery produced an average of about 1.05 million litres of petroleum products daily, equivalent to 31.9 million litres for the month. The company committed about 7,000 barrels of crude oil per day from its own production as feedstock for the refinery.
Aradel is now also assessing a potential expansion of its refining capacity, with crude supply and export logistics among the factors under consideration.
The company is additionally considering investments in aviation fuel production, according to Ogunbanjo, as the product becomes an increasingly significant export commodity from Nigeria to European markets.
