The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited on Monday announced a profit after tax of ₦5.4 trillion for the 2024 financial year, marking its strongest performance since its transition to a commercial entity.
Speaking in Abuja during the presentation of the company’s 2024 audited financial statements, Group Chief Executive Officer Bayo Ojulari said the profit represented a 64 percent rise from the ₦3.3 trillion recorded in 2023.
NNPC Limited announces a ₦5.4 trillion Profit After Tax on ₦45.1 trillion revenue for 2024, marking a year of strong growth and operational excellence.
To access the 2024 Audited Financial Statement, visit https://t.co/DFU0MEH7TH pic.twitter.com/Cyo0ugMHxg
— NNPC Limited (@nnpclimited) November 24, 2025
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He also disclosed that NNPC posted ₦45.1 trillion in revenue for the year, alongside crude production of 202.3 million barrels, gas output of 1.04 billion standard cubic feet, and an expanded retail network of 1,096 outlets nationwide.
Ojulari attributed the performance to operational efficiency, downstream reforms, cost discipline and the structural reset triggered by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
“Financially, we have never been stronger or better positioned for tomorrow. It’s important to also say here, and I know some of these questions will come, that the journey started from the 2021 when the PIA was unleashed,” the NNPC Limited chief stated.
From State Corporation to Commercial Entity
Central to NNPC’s transformation is the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021, which dissolved the old, government-run NNPC and replaced it with NNPC Limited, a fully incorporated limited-liability company expected to compete, generate profit and publish audited financial results. The shift ended decades of opaque accounting, political interference in operations, and the culture of absorbing losses as a state corporation.
By placing NNPC under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, the PIA forced a transition to corporate governance rules, board accountability, commercially driven decision-making and the pursuit of profitability rather than the fulfilment of quasi-government functions.
This structural redesign matters because it created the legal and financial environment in which NNPC could enforce cost controls, clear legacy obligations, strengthen revenue collection, reorganise its business lines and attract commercial partnerships.
The company now operates with clearer delineation between government policy roles and business operations, enabling more predictable financial reporting and strategic planning. The PIA also clarified fiscal terms, streamlined cashflow management, and provided a framework for more disciplined capital deployment — all of which contributed to the company’s ability to generate stronger margins.
From Losses to Record Profits
The scale of the turnaround becomes clearer when placed beside NNPC’s financial trajectory before the PIA.
The corporation posted heavy losses in the years preceding the reform, including negative performance as recently as 2018 and near-zero margins in 2019. The shift to profitability began in 2020 with a modest ₦287 billion profit — the first time the company had posted positive results in decades.
In 2021, profit rose to ₦674.1 billion, and in 2022, after the PIA’s implementation gained traction, earnings surged to ₦2.548 trillion. The upward trend continued in 2023 with ₦3.297 trillion, culminating in the record ₦5.4 trillion profit announced for 2024.
Taken together, the numbers reflect not only improved operational performance but also a fundamentally altered business model. NNPC Limited is now legally structured to behave like a profit-driven corporation, report to shareholders, and operate with commercial incentives that did not exist under its former government-agency model.
The company’s targets — including raising production to three million barrels per day and expanding gas output to 12 billion cubic feet per day by 2030 — signal that it is positioning itself for long-term competitiveness in a global energy landscape that is increasingly shifting toward gas and transition fuels.
Yet challenges persist. Nigeria continues to struggle with crude theft, pipeline vandalism, declining investment in upstream assets and inconsistent production levels. How NNPC manages these structural hurdles will determine whether its recent profitability is sustainable or merely a high point in a volatile sector.
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What is indisputable, however, is that the PIA has fundamentally altered the company’s financial trajectory, enabling a shift from chronic losses to multi-trillion-naira profits in just four years.
Philip Ibitoye is a Special Correspondent with EKO HOT BLOG. Click here to find daily analysis and critical insight on trending issues in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria.
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