The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) recorded a sharp decline in profit after tax (PAT) in July 2026, as earnings fell amid lower revenue, crude oil production and natural gas output.
NNPC’s PAT dropped to N279 billion in July from N535 billion in June, representing a 47.9 per cent month-on-month decline. The July figure was also the company’s lowest monthly profit since March, when it recorded N276 billion.
According to NNPC Ltd.’s Monthly Report Summary for July 2026, revenue fell from N4.389 trillion in June to N3.087 trillion in July, representing a decline of about 29.7 per cent.
The July decline came after the company recorded significant improvements in profitability in previous months. PAT rose from N236 billion in February to N276 billion in March, N481 billion in April, N462 billion in May and N535 billion in June before falling to N279 billion in July.
NNPC’s monthly profit figures for the year stood at N385 billion in January, N236 billion in February, N276 billion in March, N481 billion in April, N462 billion in May, N535 billion in June and N279 billion in July.
Revenue also fluctuated during the period, moving from N5.571 trillion in January to N2.680 trillion in February, N2.774 trillion in March, N4.971 trillion in April, N4.335 trillion in May, N4.389 trillion in June and N3.087 trillion in July.
Lower oil, gas production
The weaker financial performance coincided with declines in hydrocarbon production and sales during the month.
Crude oil and condensate production averaged 1.68 million barrels per day in July, compared with 1.72 million barrels per day in June, representing a decline of about 2.3 per cent.
Natural gas production also dropped to 7,489 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) in July from 7,841 mmscfd in June, a 4.5 per cent decline.
NNPC attributed the reduction in crude oil production to operational disruptions across several assets, including facility outages, equipment unavailability, pipeline incidents and other production constraints.
Crude oil and condensate sales fell by about 20.2 per cent, dropping from 28.23 million barrels in June to 22.53 million barrels in July.
Gas sales also declined from 4,970 mmscfd in June to 4,581 mmscfd in July.
Statutory payments rise
Despite the decline in production, sales and profitability, NNPC reported an increase in statutory payments to the Federation.
Cumulative statutory payments between January and July 2026 reached N7.913 trillion, compared with N6.286 trillion recorded between January and June.
This means the company made an additional N1.627 trillion in statutory payments during July.
NNPC also maintained 100 per cent upstream pipeline availability for the second consecutive month.
The company said its production improvement strategy would focus on maintaining high facility uptime through preventive maintenance programmes and reducing unplanned downtime.
It also listed measures including the optimisation of export operations at FEPL and Nembe EP, delivery of additional production opportunities across its portfolio, restoration of barging operations at Obodo and activation of tandem offloading operations at Akpo and Erha.
Gas pipeline projects
NNPC further reported progress on major gas infrastructure projects.
The Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project had reached the early gas stage, with construction and installation works at an advanced stage as the company works towards delivering early gas to Abuja in 2026.
The company also said the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) gas pipeline had completed pre-commissioning activities and was preparing to deliver first gas in August 2026.
Source: NNPC Ltd.
