The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is considering selling between 5 percent and 10 percent of its shares in an initial public offering, group chief executive Bashir Bayo Ojulari told Reuters in an interview at the ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi on November 3. The offering would be aimed primarily at Nigeria’s domestic market, with a possible secondary listing in London or New York to follow.
Ojulari said NNPC is also considering separate listings of some subsidiaries, following the approach taken by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company with its operating businesses. He said the primary objective is to strengthen transparency and corporate governance as Nigerian law requires, with raising funds a secondary consideration. Preparations are expected to take at least the whole of 2027, so no sale is imminent.
A 5 to 10 percent float is not privatisation. The federal government, which holds all of NNPC’s shares through the finance and petroleum ministries under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, would retain 90 to 95 percent. No valuation, asset perimeter or pricing has been disclosed, and the final decision rests with the shareholders, not the company.
The disclosure follows the recent Dangote Petroleum Refinery offering, which drew heavy domestic demand, and it lands on a company that reported audited 2025 profit after tax of 7.18 trillion naira. Whether a minority listing imposes real disclosure discipline on a company long criticised for opacity is the open question, and it will be answered by the prospectus, not the intention.