The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is a state-owned oil company in Nigeria.
The Nigeria oil industry is primarily dominated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). NNPC is the state oil corporation responsible for the exploration, production, and marketing of petroleum and petroleum products in Nigeria. It was established in 1977 and operates under the supervision of the Nigerian Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
According to the Nigerian constitution, all minerals, gas, and oil the country possesses are legally the property of the Nigerian Federal Government. The revenue gained by the NNPC accounts for 76% of federal government revenue and 40% of the entire country's GDP.
NNPC was founded on 1st April 1977 as a merger of the Nigerian National Oil Corporation and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum and Energy Resources.
NNPC by law manages the joint venture between the Nigerian federal government and a number of foreign multinational corporations, which include Royal Dutch Shell, Agip, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Chevron, and Texaco (now merged with Chevron).
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It engages in various activities, including oil exploration and production, refining, petrochemicals, and marketing of petroleum products. NNPC partners with international oil companies through joint ventures to develop and produce oil and gas resources in Nigeria.
In addition to exploration activities, the corporation has operations in refining, petrochemicals, products transportation and marketing. NNPC has three refineries, in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna, and strategic business units focused on exploration and production, gas development, distribution, engineering and commercial investments.
NNPC also maintains zonal offices in cities including Lagos, Kaduna, Benin City, Port Harcourt, and Warri.
The NNPC Towers, located in Abuja, serves as the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The complex consists of four identical towers and is situated on Herbert Macaulay Way in the Central Business District of Abuja.
NNPC Towers in Abuja
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The NNPC, with an asset of $153B (USD), is the largest national oil company in Africa.
Restructuring and the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA)
Following passage of a Petroleum Industry Act in August 2021, NNPC now operates as a commercial entity without relying on government funding and direct controls.
The most significant change is that the PIA mandated the incorporation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). This transition resulted in the establishment of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) within six months from the date of the Act’s passage. Via the PIA, the job of regulation falls on the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (the Commission) and the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (the Authority) independent of the NNPCL.
Still a fully owned government company, it was transformed from a corporation into a limited liability company in July 2022.
NNPC was established as a limited liability corporation in the hopes that a private entity will find it easier to access international capital markets. It is clear from the above paragraphs that the NNPCL is structured to run as an independent company based on commercial objectives in line with best practices and standard principles of corporate governance.
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The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) provided that NNPC Limited shall have a Board that shall perform its duties by the PIA, CAMA, and the Articles of Association of the Company. According to the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, directors may not serve on the board of more than five (5) public companies at a time. These appointments were effected by the President as required under Section 59 (2) of the Petroleum Industry Act.
Leadership Changes
On April 2, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu dissolved the board of NNPC Limited and appointed Bayo Ojulari as the new group chief executive officer(GCEO). Subsequently, on May 22, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu officially inaugurated the new board and executive leadership at a ceremony held at Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
NNPC's Structure
The NNPC Group comprises the NNPC Board, the group managing director's office, Five directorates as listed below. Each of the directorate is headed by an executive vice president (EVP).
National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) has been renamed as the NNPC Upstream Investment Services (NUIS). There are currently 20 subsidiaries in the NNPCL.
NNPC has sole responsibility for upstream and downstream developments.
Commitment to Transparency
In 2019, NNPC renewed its focus on the fundamental principles of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE), driving transparency and accountability across the oil and gas sector both nationally and globally. The corporation also launched two tools to fight corruption: the NNPC Code of Conduct and the NNPC Tip Portal. The NNPC Code of Conduct serves to communicate the expected ethical standards and standards of conduct required of all staff and contractors in every segment of the company’s operations.
Becoming an EITI supporting company aligns with NNPC’s corporate vision and principles of transparency, accountability and performance excellence. Our partnership with NEITI and EITI strengthens our commitment towards commodity trading transparency, contract transparency and systematic disclosure of revenues and payments.
In November 2019, NNPC committed to become an EITI supporting company and also to become a member of the EITI’s state-owned enterprise (SOE) transparency network. NNPC has developed and is implementing an action plan to meet the Expectations for EITI supporting companies. As part of Nigeria’s commitments as an EITI implementing country, NNPC has been working closely with the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), providing data for yearly NEITI Reports.
The corporation previously published data on the volume of crude oil and gas production on a month by month basis.
NNPC Limited is the only entity licensed to operate in the country's petroleum industry. It partners with foreign oil companies to explore Nigeria's fossil fuel resources.
