NNPC's share sale would start small. Ojulari says 5 to 10 per cent, mostly to Nigerians

Nigeria's state oil company has put a size on its long-promised share sale. It will be a small one.

What Ojulari said

NNPC Ltd's Group Chief Executive, Bayo Ojulari, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that the company's first listing would offer between 5 and 10 per cent of its shares. Nairametrics and Daily Trust both reported the interview.

The sale would be aimed mainly at the Nigerian market. A second listing in London or New York could follow. Ojulari said the main purpose is to improve the company's transparency and governance under Nigerian law. Raising money comes second.

NNPC expects to spend at least all of next year preparing. Ojulari also said the company may later list some of its subsidiaries on their own, following the path taken by Abu Dhabi's ADNOC, which has floated several units while keeping control of the group.

The refineries

Ojulari said Chinese companies have shown interest in buying stakes in the smaller refineries at Port Harcourt and Warri, both of which need major repairs. Under any such deal NNPC would keep at least 10 per cent. He expects at least one of the refineries to be producing again within three years, Daily Trust reported.

How we got here

The government first said it would list NNPC in 2016. The Petroleum Industry Act of 2021 turned the corporation into a limited company and gave it the legal basis for a public offer. In July 2025 Ojulari set out a plan that pointed to a listing by 2028. In September this year the company said there was no fixed date and that its shareholders would decide once readiness checks were done.

The timing matters. Dangote Petroleum Refinery closed its own public offer on 27 October, the first big test of how much appetite Nigerian investors have for oil shares. On 19 October, Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele said state assets including NNPC and Nigeria LNG should be listed to improve transparency, Nairametrics reported.

The numbers behind it

NNPC's September report, cited by Daily Trust, put profit after tax for the month at ₦509 billion on revenue of ₦4.6 trillion. For the first eight months of 2026, Nairametrics counted revenue of ₦28.54 trillion and profit after tax of ₦2.99 trillion from the company's monthly reports.

The 2025 audited accounts showed profit after tax of ₦7.18 trillion, up 32.7 per cent, on revenue that fell 23.4 per cent to ₦34.52 trillion. Nairametrics noted that sundry income of ₦7.10 trillion made up almost all of that profit, which is one of the questions investors will ask once a prospectus appears.

What it means for you

If this goes ahead, ordinary Nigerians would be able to buy a piece of the national oil company through a stockbroker, the same way people applied for Dangote refinery shares last month. A 5 to 10 per cent sale means the government keeps control; what changes is that NNPC would have to publish audited accounts and answer to outside shareholders.

Do not expect it soon. On the company's own timeline the earliest realistic date is 2028. Until a prospectus is published, nobody knows the price or the exact size, and anyone offering you "NNPC shares" before then is not selling the real thing.