NNPC unlocks $20bn gas investment pipeline as Nigeria’s oil production reaches five-year peak

By Our Reporter

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has signed landmark gas supply agreements expected to unlock more than $20 billion in investments, while Nigeria’s crude oil production has risen to 1.71 million barrels per day (mbpd), the country’s highest output in five years.

The milestones were unveiled by the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari, during the opening of the 25th Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week, in Abuja, where he presented the company’s one-year operational and commercial performance scorecard.

Ojulari said the company has made measurable progress over the past year in restoring production, improving operational efficiency, strengthening transparency and attracting fresh investment across the oil and gas value chain.

A key highlight was the execution of Gas Sale and Purchase Agreements (GSPAs) covering 1.29 billion standard cubic feet per day (bscf/d) of long-term LNG feed gas and 750 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) of domestic industrial gas supply to DFL FZE and Dangote Refinery.

According to him, the agreements are expected to stimulate more than $20 billion in associated investments, with seven additional commercial transactions already under negotiation.

On upstream performance, Ojulari disclosed that national crude oil production has climbed to 1.71 million barrels per day, representing Nigeria’s highest production level in five years. He added that NNPC Exploration and Production Limited (NEPL) also achieved a record production level of 365,000 barrels per day.

Gas production has equally increased to 7.5 billion standard cubic feet per day, supported by the successful completion of the River Niger crossing on the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline and the commissioning of the ANOH Gas Processing Plant, both of which are expected to strengthen domestic gas supply and industrialisation.

The NNPC boss also highlighted improvements in export operations, revealing that the company achieved an average 98 per cent crude oil recovery rate across its five export terminals between April 2025 and May 2026.

He contrasted the performance with June 2022, when crude recovery at the Bonny Oil and Gas Terminal had fallen to about one per cent due to widespread oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

Ojulari further disclosed that NNPC maintained 100 per cent compliance with Joint Venture cash call obligations throughout 2025 and up to June 2026, while sustaining efforts to achieve Nigeria’s target of producing two million barrels of crude oil per day.

On corporate governance, he said the company resumed full monthly remittances to the Federation Account in July 2025, reinstated monthly business performance reporting and hosted its first earnings call in November 2025 as part of broader reforms aimed at improving transparency, accountability and investor confidence.

Looking beyond operational performance, Ojulari called for stronger collaboration among African governments, national oil companies, investors, regulators, financiers, technology providers and research institutions to unlock the continent’s vast energy resources.

He observed that although Africa holds about 17 per cent of global natural gas reserves, it continues to attract only a fraction of global energy investment due largely to fragmented collaboration across the energy value chain.

“We must move beyond transactional relationships to strategic partnerships, from isolated projects to integrated value chains, and from exporting raw resources to building competitive industrial economies,” he said.

Ojulari added that NNPC is repositioning itself as “an ecosystem builder” that connects capital, technology, policy, talent and markets to drive sustainable value creation for Nigeria and the broader African energy industry.

“The future of African energy will not be determined solely by the resources beneath our soil, but by the quality of the partnerships we forge above it. The opportunity before us is extraordinary. The responsibility is ours. And the time to act is now,” he said.