Financial Performance of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited
Between April and July 2025, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) generated a staggering N20.9tn in revenue. This figure has prompted petroleum marketers to call for urgent action from the national oil firm to accelerate the revamp of key refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna. These refineries have been identified as critical to ensuring stable fuel supply and reducing dependency on imported products.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has urged NNPC to prioritize the rehabilitation of these facilities. They emphasized that this should be done with strict adherence to anti-corruption measures. The association believes that once these refineries are operational, they could significantly contribute to the nation’s energy security and economic stability.
In addition to its revenue generation, NNPC also remitted N7.97tn to the federation account as statutory payments between January and June 2025. These figures were disclosed in the company’s monthly reports for April, May, June, and July. The new Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Bayo Ojulari, initiated the release of these reports, providing summaries of the company’s financial and operational activities each month.
For April, NNPC reported generating N5.9tn in revenue, with N4.23tn remitted to the federation account during the first quarter of the year. In May, revenue increased to N6.01tn, while the statutory payment from January to April reached N5.58tn. This indicated that N1.35tn was remitted in April. However, revenue dipped in June to N4.57tn, with N1.38tn remitted as a statutory payment, raising total remittances for the first five months of the year to N6.96tn.
June saw a significant increase in remittances, with N7.97tn sent to the Federal Government. This meant that N1.01tn was the statutory payment for the month. In July, NNPC recorded a revenue of N4.41tn. However, the company experienced a sharp decline in profit after tax, dropping from N905bn in June to N185bn in July—a decrease of 79.6%.
Looking back at previous reports, NNPC’s profit after tax in June was N905bn, down from N1.05tn in May. It was N748bn in April. The July figure marked a significant drop, even though oil production rose marginally from 1.68 million barrels per day to 1.7 mbpd. Despite this, the state-owned energy company made a profit after tax of N2.89tn in April, May, June, and July combined.
Historical Financial Performance
The PUNCH recalls that NNPC has yet to release its 2024 financial report. Under the leadership of the former GCEO, Mele Kyari, the company declared its 2023 audited financial statement in August 2024. In the 2023 report, NNPC declared a net profit of N3.3tn for the financial year ending in December 2023—an increase of over N700bn (28%) compared to the 2022 profit of N2.55tn.
In August 2024, NNPC released a statement recalling that it declared a profit in its operations for the first time in 2021. From a loss position of N803bn in 2018, the company reduced its loss to N1.7bn in 2019. It then posted its first-ever profit of N287bn in 2020, followed by N674.1bn in 2021 and N2.55tn in 2022, described as an “unprecedented achievement” in its financial performance.
The 2023 profit of N3.3tn was noted as the highest since the company’s inception 47 years ago. While the 2024 full-year report is still pending, the N2.8tn profit recorded between May and July this year may indicate that 2025 returns could be higher.
Outstanding Debt and Remittance Issues
According to a report by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), NNPC owed the Federal Government N6.57tn as of May 2025. The bulk of this debt, approximately N3.89tn, comprised unpaid royalties due to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC). Additionally, NNPC had yet to remit another N2.52tn in outstanding tax liabilities payable to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
These outstanding remittances included royalties, taxes, and dividends unpaid between June 2023 and April 2025. Specifically, N3.89tn in unpaid royalties to the NUPRC, N2.53tn in unpaid taxes to the FIRS, and N162.33bn in unremitted dividends.
Refinery Revamp and Corporate Governance
As the current GCEO has refused to privatize the government-owned refineries, IPMAN has called on him to expedite their revamp. Chinedu Ukadike, the Publicity Secretary of IPMAN, stated that the revamp of the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries would ensure sufficient fuel supply in the country.
Ukadike mentioned that the Port Harcourt refinery is nearly ready for operations, with only minor logistics issues remaining. He expressed confidence that with the new GCEO’s efforts, the refineries would become a priority. He advised that NNPC should run the facilities before bringing in technical partners, emphasizing that privatization could lead to exploitation of Nigerians.
Scrutiny of NNPC’s Remittances
NNPC’s remittances to the government have repeatedly come under scrutiny by local and international organizations. Earlier this year, the World Bank highlighted that NNPC was remitting only half of the financial gains from the removal of petrol subsidies due to debt arrears. It pointed out that out of the N1.1tn revenue from crude sales and other income in 2024, only N600bn was remitted, leaving a deficit of N500bn unaccounted for.
Despite the subsidy being fully removed in October 2024, NNPC started transferring the revenue gains to the Federation only in January 2025. Since then, it has been remitting only 50% of these gains, using the rest to offset past arrears. The World Bank also noted that gross revenues collected by Nigeria’s main revenue agencies surged in 2024, but NNPC remained the laggard, remitting just N0.6tn to FAAC in 2024, down from N1.1tn in 2023.
