- The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has declared a net profit of N3.297 trillion at the close of the financial year.
- NNPCL said the CFO, in the period under review, recorded “N243.99 trillion revenue.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited declared a net profit of N3.297 trillion at the close of the financial year that ended in December 2023. This indicated an increase of N700 billion, or 28 per cent, compared to the 2022 profit of N2.548 trillion. The NNPC pledged 221,000 barrels per day (bpd) to meet its debt financing obligations, totalling $5.5 billion.
Data obtained from the 2023 Audited Financial Statement (AFS) of the national oil firm indicated that 90,000 barrels per day was pledged to service a $3.3 billion loan for Project Gazelle Forex stabilisation arranged and coordinated by the African Import Export Bank (AfreximBank).
The company also said it pledged another 35,000bpd for a $1 billion loan to finance the Acquisition of Dangote Refinery equity stake (now fully repaid), while 67,000 barrels per day was pledged to service a $1 billion debt for the rehabilitation of old & new Port Harcourt Refinery, with 210 barrels per day refining capacity;
For Projects Brogues and Eagle 2, the report showed that 8,000bpd and 21,000bpd were pledged as payment for $0.3 billion and $0.950 billion loans, respectively, to finance the OML 86/88 Acquisition (now fully repaid) by the NNPC E&P Limited (NEPL) and the General Corporate Purpose loan to NEPL.
The NNPC released its 2023 Audited Financial Statement (AFS) on August 19 and declared a net profit of N3.297 trillion at the end of the financial year, which ended in December 2023.
The company’s chief financial officer, Umar Ajiya, who made these known, said NNPC Ltd will announce an Initial Public offer (IPO) once the shareholders and Board make a decision.
NNPCL, said the CFO, recorded “N243.99 trillion revenue, gross revenue of N243.99 trillion, gross profit of N7 trillion, operating profit of N4.3 trillion, Profit Before Tax of N5.9 trillion and Net Profit of N3.29 trillion” in the period under review.
He said the profit grew by 28 per cent from the N2.54 trillion recorded in 2022, N674.1 billion in 2021, N287.0 billion in 2020, N-1.7 billion in 2019, and N-1.7 billion in 2018.
“Now, in 2023, profit has also grown by 28” from N2.5 trillion to N3.297 trillion, said Ajiya. The CFO depicted the profit as a reflection of the commitment and hard work of the management and staff of NNPCL, who have worked day and night to ensure this company is sustainable and in a growth trajectory.
He said the 2023 figure is the highest since the company’s inception. He said the profit reflects the company’s 12 agenda. Ajiya said that in the period under review, consequently, NNPCL has declared N2.10 trillion in dividends.
On the assets side, he said that in 2019, NNPC was literally holding an asset base of N8 trillion and then moved to N9.5 trillion in 2020. By 2021, under the transfer of the JV assets, the company’s assets grew to N15.3 trillion. He added that by 2022, resulting from the transfer of the assets, it grew to N37 trillion of assets.
Ajiya said, “That has doubled in 2023, resulting from investments. We will produce our financial statement in dollars and translate it to Naira.” He revealed that NNPC has fully repaid Dangote Petroleum Refinery with a $1 billion equity stake in 35,000 barrels per day of crude oil.
The CFO added, “We took $1 billion from Afreximbank to rehabilitate Port Harcourt Refinery. That is still ongoing.” When asked if the company would sell its shares to the public and the number of shares, he said only the board and shareholders could approve NNPC’s shares and the volume to sell.
Ajiya said, “At the end of 2024, you will have sufficient profitability indices to share with our investors. But of course, determining the amount of quantum to divest is the prerogative of the shareholders and the board. We cannot tell you whether the timeshares will be sold, but the company will go public, or this is the amount that will be sold.
“We have a board, and the board also reports to shareholders. So that kind of decision is for shareholders and the board, and we will execute it.” He said NNPC has never paid anyone subsidies.
Speaking, executive vice president Upstream Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan said the company has succeeded in reducing the cost of crude oil production from $34/barrel to $30/barrel. She said NNPC, which is currently producing 1.7 million barrels per day of crude oil and condensate, is targeting 2mb/d by the end of 2024.
“We have sufficient crude oil. We do not need to import for our refineries, ” she added. On crude oil production, she said, “We increased production to as much as 1.7mb/d in August. “This represents just one snapshot. But if I take my year-to-date production, it is 1.558mb/d of crude and condensate. The condensate amount there is 229,000 b/d.”
Meanwhile, executive vice president of Power and New Energy Lekan Ogunleye said Nigeria’s total gas production is about 26.289 billion standard cubic feet (SCF) daily. He further noted that about 45 per cent of this total quantum is for the export market from the NLNG.
He added that about 2.799bscuf/d is towards export. According to Ogunleye, the domestic market receives about 1.474bscuf per day.