The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is reeling from a tough July, with its profit after tax taking a serious tumble. In July 2026, the company posted a profit of N279 billion. This was a massive 47.9 per cent drop from the N535 billion it raked in during June. This figure is also close to the N276 billion profit recorded in March, marking one of its lowest monthly earnings in recent times.
It wasn't just profit that took a hit; the company's revenue also saw a significant decline. NNPC's revenue fell from a hefty N4.389 trillion in June to N3.087 trillion in July. That's a drop of about 29.7 per cent, wiping out some of the gains made in the months prior.
And why all this trouble? The report from NNPC's Monthly Report Summary for July 2026 points the finger squarely at lower hydrocarbon production and sales. Crude oil and condensate production averaged 1.68 million barrels per day (mbopd) in July. This was a slight dip from June's 1.72 million barrels per day. Natural gas production also followed suit, declining by about 4.5 per cent from 7,841 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) in June to 7,489 mmscfd in July.
The company blamed these production woes on operational disruptions across various assets. Think facility outages, equipment that just wasn't available, pipeline issues, and other nagging production constraints. It's the kind of stuff that can bring even the biggest operations to a grinding halt.
Sales also took a battering. Crude oil and condensate sales dropped by a significant 20.2 per cent, falling to 22.53 million barrels in July from 28.23 million barrels in June. Gas sales were down too, sliding from 4,970 mmscfd to 4,581 mmscfd in the same period.
But it wasn't all bad news. Despite the production and revenue nosedive, NNPC reported a pleasing increase in its statutory payments to the Federation Account. From January to July 2026, cumulative payments hit a staggering N7.913 trillion. This was way up from the N6.286 trillion paid between January and June. That means an extra N1.627 trillion was paid into the national coffers in July alone.
Plus, for the second month running, the company maintained 100 per cent upstream pipeline availability – a small but significant win.
NNPC is focused on keeping facilities running smoothly through regular maintenance and cutting down on unplanned downtime. They've also got plans to boost production by optimising export operations at FEPL and Nembe EP, finding new production opportunities, restarting barging operations at Obodo, and activating tandem offloading at Akpo and Erha. The goal, clearly, is to get back on track and keep the barrels flowing.