The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited cut its general and administrative expenses by 28 per cent to ₦2.6 trillion in 2025. The reduction came as the company posted a 33 per cent increase in profit after tax to ₦7.2 trillion, up from ₦5.4 trillion in 2024. Revenue declined by 24 per cent to ₦34.5 trillion from ₦45.1 trillion, attributed principally to lower crude oil prices and reduced white-product volumes following market deregulation in 2024.
Group Chief Executive Officer Bashir Bayo Ojulari disclosed the figures at the company’s annual financial performance presentation in Abuja. “General and administrative expenses declined by 28 per cent to ₦2.6 trillion, driven by sustained cost optimisation and greater utilisation of internal resources,” Ojulari said. He said the cost discipline formed part of a broader strategy focused on factors within the company’s control, including operational reliability, capital discipline and execution excellence.
The profit growth was not driven by cost cuts alone. NNPC’s other income more than doubled to ₦8.42 trillion from ₦3.39 trillion. The company recorded a ₦325.43 billion net impairment reversal on financial assets, compared with a ₦753.56 billion impairment charge in 2024. It also recovered significant long-standing receivables, allowing it to reverse provisions previously made against some debts. Operating profit rose by 24.7 per cent to ₦13.51 trillion. Taxes, royalties and other remittances to government increased by 39 per cent to ₦22.3 trillion. NNPC declared a dividend of ₦5.8 trillion, up 35 per cent from the previous year.
Operationally, crude oil and condensate production averaged 1.77 million barrels per day in 2025, the company’s highest level in five years. Natural gas production averaged 7.2 billion standard cubic feet per day. Gas transmission volumes rose by 18 per cent, sales volumes increased by 12 per cent, and LNG volumes grew by 11 per cent. Production growth was driven by new well additions, targeted interventions at OML 13 and improved asset integrity, contributing approximately 32,400 barrels of oil per day.
This mirrors the transformation of NNPC from a loss-making state corporation to a commercially oriented limited liability company under the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021. The profit trajectory since then reflects both the PIA’s structural changes and the subsidy removal, which allowed NNPC to retain margins previously transferred to marketers.
Winners and Losers
Winners: The Federal Government, which receives ₦5.8 trillion in dividends and ₦22.3 trillion in remittances. NNPC management, which has demonstrated profit growth under difficult conditions. Oil-producing states, which benefit from increased federation allocations.
Losers: Consumers, who face higher pump prices after subsidy removal. Taxpayers, who fund refinery rehabilitation efforts that have not yet delivered. Future generations, whose oil inheritance is being depleted without equivalent investment in renewable alternatives.
Bottom Line: NNPC is profitable. That is a significant achievement. The harder task is converting profit into refineries that work and energy security that lasts beyond the oil era.