The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited recorded a sharp decline in its profit in July 2026, as weaker crude oil and natural gas production affected the company’s financial performance.
NNPC’s profit after tax stood at N279bn in July, down from N535bn recorded in June. This represents a reduction of N256bn within one month.
The July figure was the company’s lowest monthly profit since March, when it recorded N276bn.
Revenue also declined significantly during the period, falling from N4.39tn in June to N3.087tn in July.
The company’s weaker performance coincided with lower oil and gas production. Crude oil and condensate output averaged 1.68 million barrels per day in July, compared with 1.72 million barrels per day the previous month.
Natural gas production also fell from 7,841 million standard cubic feet per day in June to 7,489 million standard cubic feet per day in July.
NNPC attributed the decline in crude production to operational difficulties across some of its assets, including equipment shortages, facility outages, pipeline incidents and other production constraints.
The company also recorded a decline in crude oil sales during the month.
Crude oil and condensate sales fell from 28.23 million barrels in June to 22.53 million barrels in July, representing a drop of about 20 per cent.
Gas sales also decreased from 4,970 million standard cubic feet per day to 4,581 million standard cubic feet per day.
Despite the decline in its July profit, NNPC’s statutory payments to the Federation continued to increase. Payments made between January and July reached N7.913tn, compared with N6.286tn recorded between January and June.
This means that NNPC made an additional N1.627tn in statutory payments during July.
The company said it was taking steps to improve production and reduce operational disruptions across its assets.
Its measures include preventive maintenance to keep facilities operating for longer periods, reducing unplanned shutdowns and improving export operations.
NNPC also plans to develop additional production opportunities across its portfolio, restore barging operations at Obodo and introduce tandem offloading operations at the Akpo and Erha fields.
The latest result follows a period of fluctuations in the company’s monthly profitability.
NNPC’s profit rose from N136bn in February to N276bn in March, N481bn in April, N462bn in May and N535bn in June before falling to N279bn in July.
The decline in NNPC’s July earnings comes despite stronger growth recorded by Nigeria’s oil sector in the second quarter of 2026.
The oil sector grew by 7.31 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, while the broader Nigerian economy expanded by 4.43 per cent during the same period.
NNPC’s production and financial performance are expected to remain important indicators for Nigeria’s oil industry and government revenue as the country enters the third quarter of the year.
