The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has announced plans to go public by 2028, marking a major milestone in its ongoing transformation into a commercially driven, limited liability entity.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC, Bayo Ojulari, disclosed this during the 9th OPEC International Seminar in Vienna.
He said the company’s roadmap for a public listing aligns with reforms introduced by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which he credited with providing the foundation for stability, investment, and global competitiveness.
“With collaboration from industry players, we will be the catalyst in the transformation of the national oil company into a limited liability company.
“As I mentioned earlier, we have a roadmap to be listed by 2028,” Ojulari said in a video posted Friday on NNPC’s official X (formerly Twitter) account.
He highlighted NNPC’s aggressive infrastructure drive, including investments in refineries, gas pipelines, and crude production systems aimed at boosting Nigeria’s oil output to three million barrels per day and increasing gas production to 12 billion cubic feet per day by 2030.
“Nigeria and other sub-Saharan regions are embarking on aggressive in-country infrastructure projects—refineries, pipeline connections, and gas-based industries—to address energy deficiency. These efforts present a significant investment opportunity, and your support will be instrumental,” Ojulari said.
The GCEO urged global investors to engage with the “new NNPC” and “new Nigeria,” promising transparency and results over rhetoric.
Earlier, Ojulari had revealed that the NNPC is reassessing its refinery strategy, including the potential sale of its three state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna.
Despite an estimated $18 billion investment in their rehabilitation, he admitted the facilities have failed to perform as expected.
“We’ve made significant investments and introduced a lot of new technologies, but the refineries—being aged and previously abandoned—present complexities we didn’t fully anticipate,” he said.
The proposed listing and possible divestment from non-performing assets signal a broader shift in NNPC’s operational model, as it moves to operate more like a competitive, profit-oriented global energy company.
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