Nigeria’s state oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), has recorded crude oil trading of 1.71 million barrels per day — its highest volume in five years — as it marked the first anniversary of Group Chief Executive Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari’s leadership with a sweeping operational scorecard released this week.
The one-year mandate report, titled ‘NNPCL April 2025 – April 2026 One Year Mandate Report Summary,’ also revealed that NNPC Exploration and Production Limited (NEPL) hit an all-time peak production of 365,000 barrels per day in December 2025, while gas supply closed the period at 7.5 billion standard cubic feet per day.
Among the headline achievements, NNPCL secured presidential approval for project-specific incentives designed to overcome the obstacles blocking the Final Investment Decision on the Bonga South West Aparo project within OML 118, one of Nigeria’s largest deepwater assets. The company also resolved the long-running OPL 245 dispute, facilitating the conversion of the contested block into new petroleum prospecting and mining licences — a move that has since enabled Eni’s $10.3 billion development approval for the Zabazaba and Etan fields.
On gas infrastructure, the period saw the completion of the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) pipeline’s Niger River crossing and full-line welding in July 2025, as well as the commissioning of the Assa North Ohaji South gas processing plant and the Obiafu–Obrikom–Oben pipeline connections. NNPCL also executed a Network Exit Agreement between its gas marketing arm and Dangote Fertilizer, signed a separate supply agreement with the Dangote Refinery, and consolidated its 7.25 percent equity stake in the Dangote Refinery to protect national interest.
On the commercial front, NNPCL launched a new crude grade — Cawthorne — on export markets, expanded its Oleum lubricant brand across the West African sub-region, and entered a tripartite memorandum of understanding with China Gas Holding and Pelygang Chemical Singapore to unlock Nigeria’s gas resources. The company also established a shipping partnership with Stena Bulk and Sonanagol, and resumed full monthly payments into the Federation Account from July 2025 onwards.
Petroleum Prospecting Licences 2000 and 2001 were executed under a Production Sharing Contract model that NNPCL described as the first to include comprehensive terms specifically designed to facilitate deepwater non-associated gas development. An incorporated joint venture model was also put in place across NNPC refineries to create a self-financing, commercially competitive structure for refinery operations.
Source: thenationonlineng.net