The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) pledged a total of 221,000 barrels of crude per day to offset its $6.55 billion debt incurred in 2023, according to the company’s audited financial statements.
It was not stated how long these barrels of crude would be supplied to the beneficiaries.
The NNPCL’s financial statement, which was unveiled during a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, showed that of the total debt, $1 billion was for the rehabilitation of old and new Port Harcourt Refinery, $1 billion for acquisition of Dangote Refinery equity stake, $3.3 billion for forex stabilisation, $950 billion for ‘general corporate purpose’ and $300 million for the acquisition of OML 86/88.
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According to the financial statement, the company’s total revenue for 2023 stood at N23.99 trillion, while its total assets were valued at N246.8 trillion. Its gross profit was N7 trillion but N4.34 trillion was the operating profit. The profit before tax stood at N5.98 trillion while profit after tax stood at N3.3 trillion.
Pius Akinyelure, chairman of the NNPC Limited Board, speaking during the briefing, said the company posted a N3.3 trillion profit after tax in the 2023 fiscal year, with N2.1 trillion dividend for shareholders.
For Umar Ajiya, chief financial officer, the company paid royalties worth N2.15 trillion from its operations. Taxes, levies, and statutory deductions amounted to N2.6 trillion for the period, he said.
He noted that the company’s fiscal performance reflects both strategic foresight and operational resilience, noting that despite inherent challenges of its operational and economic environment, the NNPC has improved its productivity and financial performance.
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Ajiya further disclosed that the NNPC Ltd will announce initial public offer (IPO) once the shareholders and the board make a decision.
“We broke even at the end of 2019 and by 2020 we have produced the first profit ever for this company which is N287 billion. The following year, in 2021, the company’s profit grew to N674 billion and by the third year, in 2022, the profit jumped to N2.5 trillion. In that year we also had the JV assets transferred from the corporation to us as part of our take-off assets. Now, in 2023, the profit has also grown by 28% from N3.297 trillion.
“Similarly, on the asset side, in 2019 we were literally holding an asset base of N8 trillion. We slightly moved to N9.5 trillion in 2020, but by 2021, following the movement of the JV assets to the company, the current assets grew to N15.3 trillion. And by 2022, that resulted from investment, but then the transfer of the assets in 2022 saw us grow from N15.3 trillion to N37 trillion worth of assets. And that has doubled in 2023, resulting from investment and translation difference.
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“We are expected to produce our financial statements in dollars and translate it to Naira, and that’s what has happened in 2023. So, in 2023 highlights, we had a N23.9 trillion revenue, which resulted in a gross profit of N7 trillion, net operating profit of N4.3 trillion, and profit before tax of N5.9. Consequently, we ended the year with N3.297 trillion as profit after tax.
“On the asset side, because of sizeable amount of receivables, the total assets position stood at N246 trillion. Of course, when we look at the other side of the balance sheet, total liabilities equate to the same. In terms of cash and bank holding at the end of the year, we had N7.7 trillion in the banks.
“And interim dividend paid during the year was N536 billion, so this is the amount set to be paid every month into the federation account. Final dividend was declared last Friday, by the shareholders amounting to N2.1 trillion net of tax,” he said.
In her remarks, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, executive vice president, Upstream, said with improvements witnessed as a result of the renewed vigour in the war against crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism, NNPC Ltd is targeting two million barrels per day crude oil production by the end of the year.
