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By Abdullahi Aliyu
For nearly five decades, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) operated as a government department. Created in 1977 to regulate, explore and market oil on behalf of the state, NNPC was funded directly from the federal budget. Profit was very much welcomed but optional. Accountability was not among its most visible feature.
That model officially ended in July 2022 with the advent of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021. That year, NNPC metamorphosed into the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL — a commercial entity. Regulatory duties were handed to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA). With that change, NNPCL was supposed to concentrate on business and function like a truly profit-making concern.
But changing the name and the mandate did not immediately change the culture. For years after, the company kept running at a loss, remitting little to government, while its refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna consumed billions in failed turn-around maintenance, amidst unfulfilled promises of return to real production. Yet staff salaries and allowances remained untouched. Audits were irregular. Joint ventures delivered poor returns. Transparency was minimal.
That began to change in April 2025.
A Clean Slate From The Presidency
Determined to break the cycle, President Bola Tinubu invoked Section 59, subsection 2 of the PIA 2021 and started a complete overhaul. He removed Mele Kyari as Group CEO and Pius Akinyelure as Board Chairman. In their place came Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari and Ahmadu Musa Kida.
The mandate was blunt and unmistakable: restore operational efficiency, rebuild investor confidence, and run NNPCL like a commercial company. The targets were specific. $30 billion in new investments by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030. Oil production to 2 million barrels per day by 2027 and 3 million by 2030. Gas output to 8 billion cubic feet per day by 2027 and 10 bcf by 2030. Refining output to 200,000 barrels per day by 2027 and 500,000 by 2030.
Ojulari came with a different pedigree. A trained mechanical engineer, he had spent his career in upstream engineering, project development, and energy operations, culminating as Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company. Colleagues describe him as data-driven, direct and result-oriented. On resumption, he viewed the task ahead was a long-winding marathon, not a short sprint, and that early wins would only matter if they were sustained.
Sixteen months later, the numbers suggest the marathon is gaining pace.
N2.28 Trillion Profit and a New Culture of Disclosure
According to NNPCL’s six-month report for January to June 2026, the company recorded N19.04 trillion in revenue and N2.28 trillion in profit after tax. Statutory remittances to the Federation Account hit N6.286 trillion in the same period.
The trajectory was not linear, certainly not satisfactory for Ojulari. Profit after tax opened at N385 billion in January, fell to N136 billion in February, recovered to N276 billion in March, surged to N481 billion in April, eased to N462 billion in May, and peaked at N535 billion in June — the strongest single month in the period. Revenue followed a similar climb, from N2.571 trillion in January to N4.389 trillion in June.
Production mirrored the recovery. Crude oil and condensate output totaled an estimated 297 million barrels in H1 2026. Daily production rose from a low of 1.51 million barrels per day in February to 1.73 million bpd in May, before dipping slightly to 1.72 million bpd in June due to operational and subsurface challenges.
Gas told a steadier story. Output rose every month from January to June, reaching 1.38 trillion standard cubic feet, all in line with meeting the President’s set target. Indeed, for a country pushing gas as its transition fuel, that consistency matters. It underpins power generation, industrial clusters, and the broader ambition to deepen domestic gas use.
Infrastructure also advanced. The Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben, OB3, gas pipeline reached 98 percent completion. The Abuja-Kaduna-Kano, AKK, pipeline hit 94 percent. Both projects had stalled for years and are critical to moving gas from the Niger Delta to power plants and industries in the North.
A national daily, Leadership newspaper, recognized the shift in August, naming Ojulari its CEO of the Year 2026 [Public Sector]. The citation pointed specifically to the revenue, profit, and transparency drive.
Confronting the Refinery Problem in Public
For years, NNPC/NNPCL management avoided public discussion of the refineries. Billions were spent on rehabilitation, yet fuel kept being imported.
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That changed on February 5, 2026, at the Nigeria International Energy Summit in Abuja. Standing before industry executives and investors, Ojulari presented findings from an internal assessment: the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries were operating at only 50 to 55 percent capacity utilisation, despite crude being supplied to them. It was an uncomfortable admission, but it set the stage for action.
Five months later at the Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference in July 2026, he announced the end of an old practice: financing the refineries with crude-backed loans. Under the new model, funding would be tied to operational performance metrics. No performance, no money.
According to news reports, the decision caused internal resistance at first. “For years, you could pledge future crude to keep a refinery running and nobody asked questions,” one of the reports quoted a senior official as sayinh. “Now the board is asking: what did you produce with it?” That shift from entitlement funding to performance funding is perhaps the clearest sign that NNPCL is trying to shed its civil service past.
The Monthly Reports That Ended the Guessing Game.
Before 2025, getting credible monthly data from NNPCL was like pulling teeth. Journalists, analysts, and even government agencies relied on guesstimates. Ojulari changed that by institutionalizing the Monthly Financial and Operations Report. Every month, the company now publishes revenue, profit, production volumes, remittances, and project updates with more consequential details, against what obtained in the past.
The impact was immediate. In March 2026, when February’s profit dipped to N136 billion, the report explained it was due to maintenance shutdowns and lower lifting. In May, when production peaked, the report credited improved uptime in key JV assets.
At a budget hearing in Abuja in June, a member of the House Committee on Petroleum said: “For the first time, we are not arguing with NNPCL over figures. They are putting it out themselves.”
That transparency, analysts say, is restoring confidence among investors and lenders who had grown wary of the company’s opacity.
Production, Gas, and the Industrial Agenda
The production numbers are important, but context matters. Nigeria has struggled for years to meet OPEC quotas due to theft, pipeline vandalism, and underinvestment. The rise to 1.73 million bpd in May 2026 represents the highest sustained level in recent years.
More significant for long-term planning is gas. The 1.38 tscf produced in H1 2026 is being channeled into power, fertilizers, and industrial parks. Government officials argue that if the AKK and OB3 pipelines are completed, Nigeria can finally move gas from where it is abundant to where it is needed.
Ojulari has also pushed a portfolio review of NNPCL-operated and Joint Venture assets to align them with value maximization. Some marginal fields are being farmed out. Others are being prioritized for quick production.
The turnaround is not total. The June dip in crude output shows that security and subsurface issues still threaten production. The refineries, even at 50-55% capacity, are far from the 200,000 bpd target for 2027. And converting profit on paper to cash for government and shareholders will require discipline in cost control and debt management.
There is also the cultural hurdle. Decades of operating without commercial pressure created habits that do not disappear in one year. But the direction is different. For the first time since commercialization, NNPCL is being measured by profit, not by budget allocation.
A Company Finally Acting Like One
When President Tinubu appointed Ojulari, he said he wanted “a new NNPCL that Nigerians can trust.” The H1 2026 results suggest that trust is slowly returning. Profit after tax of N2.28 trillion. Revenue of N19.04 trillion. N6.286 trillion remitted to government. Gas output rising. Pipelines nearing completion. Monthly reports published. Refinery financing tied to performance.
It is not yet the $30 billion investment or 3 million bpd target. But it is movement.
As Ojulari told staff in a town hall in July: “We are no longer a department waiting for allocation. We are a company that must earn its keep.” For a nation whose economy still benefits heavily from oil as diversification efforts continue, that may be the most important change of all.
– Aliyu is based in Abuja
