NNPC’s four-month income hits N20tn as marketers seek refineries revamp

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited generated N20.9tn between April and July 2025. This came as petroleum marketers urged the national oil firm to fast-track the revamp of the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries, as it’s now generating trillions of naira.

Dealers under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria on Monday urged NNPC to get the country’s refineries working. Still, they emphasised that this must be done with zero tolerance for corruption.

NNPC also remitted N7.97tn to the federation account as statutory payments between January and June. NNPC announced these in its monthly reports for April, May, June, and July.

Recall that the new Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC, Bayo Ojulari, started the release of the company’s monthly reports, giving summaries of its financial and operational activities each month. For April, NNPC announced that it generated N5.9tn. It also disclosed that N4.23tn was remitted to the federation account in the first quarter of the year.

In May, NNPC’s revenue grew to N6.01tn, while N5.58tn was the statutory payment from January to April. This indicates that N1.35tn was remitted to the federation account in April. Revenue dwindled in June to N4.57tn. However, N1.38tn was remitted as a statutory payment, raising remittances for the first five months of the year to N6.96tn.

In June, it was disclosed that the total amount remitted to the Federal Government was N7.97tn, indicating that N1.01tn was the statutory payment in June. NNPC said it generated N4.41tn as revenue in July. From the July report released on Friday, it was reported that NNPC recorded a substantial decline in its profit after tax, dropping from N905bn in June to N185bn in July. This represents a 79.6 per cent decrease in profit.

According to 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 as oil production rose marginally from 1.68 million barrels per day to 1.7 mbpd. It was calculated that the state-owned energy company made a profit after tax of N2.89tn in April, May, June, and July.

The PUNCH recalls that NNPC has yet to release its 2024 financial report. Under the watch 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 at the close of the financial year, which ended in December 2023. It was an increase of over N700bn (28 per cent) compared to the 2022 profit of N2.55tn.

NNPC released a statement in August 2024, recalling that in 2021, it declared a profit in its operations for the first time. From a loss position of N803bn in 2018, the company said it reduced its loss to N1.7bn in 2019. However, NNPC posted its first-ever profit of N287bn in 2020.

In 2021, it recorded a N674.1bn profit, and in 2022, the profit grew to N2.55tn, describing it as “an unprecedented achievement in its financial performance.”

The 2023 profit of N3.3tn was described as the highest since the company’s inception 47 years ago. While the 2024 full-year report has yet to be released, it can be deduced that the N2.8tn profit recorded between May and July this year may be a sign that 2025 returns will be higher.

The PUNCH reported in June that the Federation Account Allocation Committee revealed that NNPC owed the Federal Government N6.57tn as of May 2025. FAAC said the bulk of the debt, about N3.89tn, comprised unpaid royalties due to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

As of the time of the report, it was stated that NNPC had yet to remit another N2.52tn in outstanding tax liabilities payable to the Federal Inland Revenue Service. The outstanding remittances were royalties, taxes, and dividends unpaid between June 2023 and April 2025. They include N3.89tn of unpaid royalties to the NUPRC, N2.53tn in unpaid taxes to the FIRS, and N162.33bn of unremitted dividends.

As the oil firm’s GCEO refused to privatise the government refineries, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria urged him to do everything possible to hasten the revamp of the refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna.

IPMAN Publicity Secretary, Chinedu Ukadike, told our correspondent in an interview that the revamp of the refineries would ensure enough fuel supply in the country. With technocrats in place, Ukadike believed that refineries would work, urging the NNPC to ensure zero tolerance for corruption.

He told The PUNCH that the Port Harcourt refinery is almost ready for operations. “In line with the report we have, Area 5 of the refinery is ready; it has just a little logistics problem left. So, I also believe that with what the new GCEO is trying to do, the refineries are a priority.

“For him to say they will work, he has done an evaluation of the refineries. We independent marketers believe that since the refineries have been fixed to at least 90-95 per cent completion, the Federal Government should run them so that it could be able to give dividends for the billions of dollars spent,” Ukadike said.

He advised that the NNPC should run the facilities before bringing in technical partners. “They should not privatise it. They should first of all start running it before they bring in technical partners who will oversee the management.

“These are important to checkmate the unnecessary exorbitant prices of petroleum products, knowing that this petroleum product is very essential. The refineries should not be in the hands of entrepreneurs, or else they will exploit Nigerians. NNPC has a new management now. If there is prudence and zero corruption, I think we will do better,” he stated.

Meanwhile, NNPC’s remittances to the government have repeatedly come under scrutiny by local and international organisations. Earlier this year, the World Bank said NNPC was remitting only half of the financial gains from the removal of petrol subsidies due to debt arrears. It said that, out of the N1.1tn revenue from crude sales and other income in 2024, NNPC remitted only N600bn, leaving a deficit of N500bn unaccounted for.

“Despite the subsidy being fully removed in October 2024, NNPCL started transferring the revenue gains to the Federation only in January 2025. Since then, it has been remitting only 50 per cent of these gains, using the rest to offset past arrears.

“Gross revenues collected by Nigeria’s main revenue agencies surged in 2024, despite minimal remittances from NNPCL. FAAC data showed that gross revenues collected by the main revenue agencies (FIRS, NCS, NNPCL, and NUPRC) rose significantly from N16.5tn (seven per cent of GDP) in 2023 to N29.5tn (10.6 per cent of GDP) in 2024.

“However, NNPCL was the only laggard, remitting just N0.6tn to FAAC in 2024, down from N1.1tn in 2023, largely due to the implicit PMS subsidy, which remained in place until the end of September 2024. Although the subsidy was fully removed on October 1, 2024, NNPCL did not start transferring the resulting revenue gains to the Federation until January 2025. From that point, it began remitting 50 per cent, with the other half being used to settle past arrears,” the World Bank stated.