Nigeria’s state oil giant, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), closed out May 2026 with softer top-line and bottom-line numbers, even as its upstream production held firm and its flagship gas pipeline projects continued to inch toward completion.
Figures contained in the company’s May 2026 Operational and Financial Report show revenue slipping to N4.335 trillion, down from N4.97 trillion in April, a drop of roughly N635 billion in a single month. Profit after tax followed the same trajectory, easing about 4 percent to N462 billion from N481 billion the previous month.
The dip in earnings comes despite NNPCL holding its production line steady. Combined crude oil and condensate output averaged 1.73 million barrels per day in May, while natural gas production stood at 7,774 million standard cubic feet per day—figures that point to a company whose wells kept flowing even as its books took a hit.
The real story behind the numbers appears to lie not in the wellhead, but in the marketplace. Crude oil and condensate sales fell sharply to 18.95 million barrels in May, down from 23.65 million barrels in April, a decline of nearly 20 percent.
Gas sales told a similar, if milder, story, slipping to 4,921 million standard cubic feet per day from 5,044 mmscf/d a month earlier. With production largely unchanged, the numbers suggest NNPCL simply sold less of what it pumped, whether due to softer demand, shifting cargo schedules, lower liftings, or timing effects around monthly sales cycles is not detailed in the report.
Despite the softer earnings, NNPCL’s obligations to the federation kept flowing uninterrupted. The company disclosed that it remitted N4.858 trillion in statutory payments covering taxes, royalties, and other dues between January and May 2026, underscoring its continued role as a major contributor to government revenue even amid a monthly earnings wobble.
On the infrastructure front, the report points to steady, if unglamorous, progress. Work on the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline advanced through construction, equipment installation, and pre-commissioning activities, with NNPCL still targeting an early gas delivery to Abuja sometime in 2026.
Meanwhile, the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) Gas Pipeline moved into post-pullback pre-commissioning and tie-in works, with full commissioning penciled in for the end of the third quarter of 2026.
Both pipelines sit at the heart of NNPCL’s broader ambition to shore up domestic gas supply feeding power plants, industrial users, and gas-based manufacturing that have long been starved of reliable feedstocks.
Their completion, when it comes, is expected to ease transportation bottlenecks that have historically hampered gas delivery from the Niger Delta to demand centers further north and inland.
For now, though, the May numbers leave NNPCL facing a familiar tension: production holding steady on one hand and revenue proving more volatile on the other.
Whether the softer sales figures mark a temporary blip tied to lifting schedules or the start of a longer trend will likely depend on how June’s numbers shape up and on whether global crude prices and domestic gas offtake cooperate in the months ahead.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
NNPCL’s May 2026 numbers reveal a company still pumping steadily but selling less; revenue fell to N4.335 trillion and profit to N462 billion, driven not by weaker production but by a sharp drop in crude and gas sales volumes.
Nigeria’s oil output remains resilient, but softer offtake is squeezing earnings, even as the company keeps meeting its federation remittances and pushing forward on the AKK and OB3 gas pipelines critical to the country’s long-term energy security.
