Nigeria’s crude oil output reached 1.71 million barrels per day between April 2025 and April 2026, the strongest figure the country has recorded in five years. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited disclosed this in its One-Year Mandate Report Summary, released by Group CEO Bayo Ojulari this week. For a nation that has watched production bleed for years through theft, vandalism, and underinvestment, this number carries real weight.
The report marks Ojulari’s first full year leading the national oil firm. It lands at a moment when Nigeria’s economy still feels the pressure of dollar scarcity and an oil-dependent federal budget. Every barrel matters.
NEPL Sets an All-Time Production Record
NNPC’s upstream subsidiary, NEPL, posted its highest-ever output of 565,000 barrels per day in December 2025. That figure is a single-month peak. It signals the upstream business is operating with a discipline it has rarely shown before.
NNPC also executed a model Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for petroleum prospecting licenses in 2000 and 2001. The company describes it as the first PSC in Nigeria’s history to include comprehensive terms covering deepwater non-associated gas resources. Non-associated gas has historically been Nigeria’s most neglected energy resource: technically complex, commercially undervalued, and chronically underfunded.
The long-festering OPL 245 dispute also moved. NNPC said it supported the resolution of that dispute, converting it into a new PSC covering PMLs 102, 103, and PPLs 2011 and 2012. That block holds billions of barrels. Getting it to a workable legal structure is a significant unlock.
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Gas Infrastructure and Refining Mark Structural Gains
Progress on gas infrastructure extended beyond upstream. The Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline reached a milestone in July 2025, with NNPC completing the River Niger crossing and welding the full line. That pipeline is the backbone of Nigeria’s plan to move domestically produced gas northward. It feeds industries, power plants, and CNG networks across the country’s interior.
The Assa North-Ohaji South gas processing plant and the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben pipeline connection have both been commissioned. Gas supply held at 7.5 billion standard cubic feet per day through 2025. NNPC signed new gas supply agreements with Dangote Cement and the Dangote Refinery. It also executed a network exit agreement between NGIC and Dangote Fertilizer. Both moves tie Nigeria’s largest private industrial complex more tightly into the national gas grid.
On refining, NNPC adopted an incorporated joint venture model designed to let each refinery self-finance and operate independently. NNPC consolidated its 7.25 percent equity stake in the Dangote Refinery. It continued crude supply under the crude-for-naira programme, a structure that reduces dollar pressure on feedstock costs and returns naira receipts to the federation account.
Market Expansion, Transparency, and What Comes Next
NNPC entered shipping partnerships with Stena Bulk and Sonangol and introduced Cawthorne, a new Nigerian crude grade, to export markets. The Oleum lubricant brand expanded across West Africa, a quiet but deliberate move to capture more value from Nigeria’s petroleum chain within the region.
The Bonga South-West Aparo project, a deepwater development that has awaited a final investment decision for years, received presidential approval for project-specific incentives. That decision could finally unblock one of Nigeria’s most commercially significant offshore assets. NNPC also signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding with China Gas Holding and Peiyang Chemical Singapore to develop Nigeria’s gas resources.
On transparency, the company reinstated monthly performance reporting, held its first-ever earnings call in November 2025, and resumed consistent remittances to the federation account from July 2025. NNPC onboarded 1,000 new staff and launched a performance management system. The Women in NNPC programme also went live, pushing inclusion into an industry that has long resisted it.
The numbers are a meaningful start. Sustaining 1.71 million bpd and pushing past it demands the same execution pressure that produced December’s NEPL record. Nigeria cannot afford another lost five years.
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