NNPC posts N1.7bn loss in 2019 audited financial reports

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Thursday, announced the release of its 2019 audited Financial Statement, posting a loss of N1.7 billion. This represents a 99.7 percent decline from a loss of N803 billion recorded in 2018.

In a statement issued in Abuja, the corporation said that general administrative expenses also dipped by 22 percent from N894 billion in 2018 to N696 billion in 2019.

Presenting the report, Chief Financial Officer, CFO, of the NNPC, Umar Ajiya, explained that the improved performance in the 2019 financial year was driven mainly by cost optimization, contracts renegotiation, and operational efficiency.

He said: “Majority of the subsidiaries posted improved performance namely, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited, NPDC, which recorded N479 billion profit in 2019 compared to N179 billion in 2018 representing 167 percent increase; the Integrated Data Sciences Limited, IDSL, recorded N23 billion profit in 2019 compared to N154 million in 2018 representing 14,966 percent increase.

“The Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC, recorded N14.2 billion profit in 2019 compared to N9.3 billion in 2018, representing 52 percent increase; while the refineries have maintained the same level of losses as in 2018 but which will reduce significantly in 2020 due to cost optimization drive.”

Ajiya assured that the outlook for 2020 looked promising in view of the NNPC management’s strong drive to prune down running costs and grow revenues.

He explained that the 2019 audited financial statement goes further to demonstrate the NNPC’s unwavering commitment to the principle of Transparency, Accountability, and Performance Excellence (TAPE).

He noted that the 2019 Audited Financial Statement, which was concluded five months after the release of the 2018 Audited Financial Statement, would be published on the NNPC’s website for all to see in keeping with the management’s commitment to transparency and accountability and in consonance with the principles of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) of which it is a partner.

The release of the result, the NNPC said, was in line with the promise of its Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, to sustain the publication of the Corporation’s Audited Financial Statement as part of efforts to deepen transparency and accountability and keep stakeholders abreast of NNPC operations.