- NNPCL received ₦318bn for oil search in inland basins from Jan–Aug 2025
- Federation Account earnings from PSC profits fell short by over ₦207bn
- NNPCL has not remitted any interim dividends despite ₦2.17tn target
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has received over ₦318 billion from oil earnings between January and August 2025 for frontier basin exploration, findings have revealed.
Eko Hot Blog reports that according to documents from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting held in September 2025, this amount represents 30% of Production Sharing Contract (PSC) profits a statutory allocation under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
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The law mandates that this percentage of NNPCL’s PSC profits be invested in oil and gas exploration across Nigeria’s inland and under-explored basins, including Anambra, Benue, Bida, Chad, Sokoto, and Dahomey.
The fund is managed by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) through an escrow account and is subject to an annual exploration and development plan.
In July 2025, the NUPRC published its Frontier Basin Exploration and Development Plan, which detailed several exploration activities such as seismic surveys, stress-field analysis, and drilling of new wildcat wells in basins across the country.
The plan included:
Logging and testing of the Eba-1 well in the Dahomey Basin
New wildcat drilling in the Bida Basin
Reappraisal of Wadi wells in the Chad Basin
Reassignment of the Ebeni-1 project in Benue
The plan, signed by NUPRC Chief Executive Gbenga Komolafe, noted that the outcomes of these efforts would guide future drilling decisions and risk assessments.
Despite falling below the projected PSC profit target, the statutory 30% deduction for frontier exploration has been applied consistently.
By August, a total of ₦318.05 billion had been allocated for this purpose.
A closer look at monthly trends reveals significant fluctuations:
January: ₦31.77bn from ₦105.91bn profit
February: ₦38.30bn from ₦127.67bn
March: ₦61.49bn from ₦204.96bn
April: ₦36.58bn from ₦121.93bn
May: ₦38.80bn from ₦129.33bn
June: ₦6.83bn from ₦22.77bn (lowest month)
July: ₦25.34bn from ₦84.48bn
August: ₦78.94bn from ₦263.13bn (highest month)
The same 30% formula also applies to NNPCL’s management fees, bringing its total receipt to ₦636.1 billion (₦318.05bn for frontier exploration and ₦318.05bn for management fees) over the eight-month period.
Meanwhile, the Federation Account, which is entitled to 40% of PSC profits, also faced volatility:
- January: ₦42.36bn
- February: ₦51.07bn
- March: ₦81.99bn
- April: ₦48.77bn
- May: ₦51.73bn
- June: ₦9.11bn (lowest)
- July: ₦33.79bn
- August: ₦105.25bn (highest)
Despite these inflows, the total accrued to the Federation Account so far this year is ₦424.07 billion, falling short of the projected ₦631.57 billion, resulting in a revenue gap of over ₦207 billion.
The situation is further strained by NNPCL’s failure to remit its interim dividend, which was budgeted at ₦2.17 trillion for the year but has recorded zero remittance as of August, creating a major shortfall in federal revenue expectations.
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