By Kehinde Ibrahim, Lagos
THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC Limited, has announced that it achieved cost savings of $3.4 billion over the past year through extensive contract restructuring and operational optimisation, while recording notable increases in crude oil and natural gas production.
The company’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Bashir Bayo Ojulari disclosed the achievements during his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Nigerian Oil & Gas (NOG) Energy Week in Abuja on Tuesday, where he presented NNPC Limited’s performance scorecard covering the period from April 2025 to date.
According to the report, the national oil company produced 569.7 million barrels of crude oil during the review period, representing a six per cent increase compared with the previous year. Gas production also rose significantly, reaching 2,576 billion standard cubic feet (bscf), an 8.1 per cent year-on-year increase.
Ojulari attributed the improved operational performance to stronger execution, enhanced efficiency across the company’s operations and increased collaboration throughout Nigeria’s oil and gas value chain.
He said that NNPC Limited is repositioning itself beyond its traditional role as an energy producer to become an integrated ecosystem builder capable of connecting capital, technology, policy, talent and markets in support of long-term industry growth.
The company also reported stronger financial contributions to the federation, revealing that government earnings from oil operations increased by 21.8 per cent during the period. As a result, NNPC remitted N19.5 trillion to the Federation Account, reflecting improved revenue generation and operational performance.
A major highlight of the performance report was the company’s successful reduction of operational costs by $3.4 billion. Ojulari explained that the savings resulted from comprehensive contract reviews, renegotiation of commercial agreements, improved procurement practices, operational optimisation and the elimination of inefficiencies across various business segments.
The company also recorded significant improvements in export terminal efficiency. Ojulari disclosed that the average terminal recovery factor between January 2021 and May 2026 reached 98 per cent, marking a remarkable turnaround from the approximately one per cent recovery level recorded at the Bonny Oil and Gas Terminal, BOGT, in June 2022.
He attributed the improvement to coordinated industry interventions, enhanced surveillance systems, tighter operational controls and improved monitoring processes, noting that all five major export terminals are now operating at consistently high recovery levels.
Similarly, pipeline reliability has improved substantially, with NNPC reporting 100 per cent availability across critical pipeline infrastructure, including the TNP, TEP, TRP, TFP and OANDO-BRASS systems as of June 28, 2026. The development reflects ongoing investments in pipeline integrity, security and maintenance designed to ensure uninterrupted evacuation of crude oil and gas.
On joint venture operations, Ojulari stated that NNPC maintained full compliance with its cash-call obligations from the 2025 financial year through June 2026, fulfilling all commitments in both naira and dollar terms.
He acknowledged that compliance among joint venture partners remained uneven. According to him, only 22 per cent of partners are fully up to date with their obligations, while 48 per cent have made partial payments but experienced recent slippages between May and June 2026. The remaining 30 per cent continue to face significant arrears and persistent defaults.
Ojulari said NNPC has activated judicial and contractual provisions under existing Joint Operating Agreements to address the outstanding obligations of defaulting partners while continuing to finance its own share of project costs to prevent disruptions to operations.
He reaffirmed the company’s commitment to sustaining prompt cash-call payments as part of its broader strategy to achieve Nigeria’s oil production target of two million barrels per day.
The Group Chief Executive also highlighted several strategic agreements concluded over the past year to strengthen Nigeria’s energy sector and accelerate industrial development.
Among them is a long-term gas sales agreement with Nigeria LNG for the supply of 1.29 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day, executed in August 2025. NNPC also concluded deepwater investment agreements covering Oil Prospecting Licences, OPLs, 2001/2002 and OPL 245, representing investment commitments exceeding $20 billion.
Other key milestones include the Strategic Project Framework Agreement with Sahara Group signed in December 2025; network exit agreements with DFL FZE and Dangote Refinery for industrial gas supply executed in January 2026; memoranda of understanding with technical partners for the rehabilitation and optimisation of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries signed in April 2026; and a gas supply agreement with Ajaokuta Steel Company concluded in June and July 2026.
Ojulari described the agreements as evidence of NNPC’s shift from conventional commercial transactions to long-term strategic partnerships capable of creating integrated energy value chains and supporting Nigeria’s industrialisation agenda.
Looking ahead, he identified several priority projects scheduled for implementation between July 2026 and December 2027. They include the UTM FLNG offshore project, the OB3 gas pipeline, Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano, AKK, gas pipeline, refinery technical partnership programmes, Zabazaba ultra-deepwater development, Owowo deepwater project and the BSWAP deepwater project.
Delivering his keynote address titled Forging Africa’s Strategic Energy Growth Through Global Collaboration, Ojulari argued that Africa’s greatest energy challenge is not a lack of resources but the absence of stronger collaboration among governments, investors, operators, regulators, financial institutions, research institutions and technology providers.
He noted that although Africa possesses approximately 17 percent of global natural gas reserves, substantial oil resources, critical minerals and enormous renewable energy potential, the continent continues to attract only a small fraction of global energy investment.
According to him, future success in the global energy industry will depend less on the size of resource reserves and more on the strength of partnerships, policy consistency, technological innovation and the resilience of supporting ecosystems.
Ojulari called for closer collaboration among NNPC Limited, international oil companies, indigenous producers, financial institutions, regulators, technology firms, universities and local service providers to create an investment climate that encourages capital inflows, rewards innovation and develops local expertise.
He stressed the need for stronger links between academia and industry to ensure research institutions become centres of practical innovation capable of addressing challenges within the energy sector. He also advocated stable, transparent and investor-friendly regulatory frameworks while accelerating the development of indigenous technical capacity to enhance Nigeria’s global competitiveness.
Concluding his address, the NNPC chief executive said that Africa’s future energy leadership would be determined not only by the resources beneath its soil but by the quality of partnerships built around those resources. He envisioned a continent where abundant energy resources drive industrialisation, natural gas powers homes and industries, research fuels innovation, and innovation creates sustainable economic prosperity.
He urged governments, national oil companies, investors, regulators, financiers, academic institutions and industry stakeholders to work collectively towards building an integrated African energy ecosystem capable of transforming the continent into a global hub for energy investment, technology, manufacturing and value creation.
