NNPC reduces loss by 99.7% as admin costs drop

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) printed a 99.7 percent decline in its loss profile — from N803 billion in 2018 to N1.7 billion in 2019.

The corporation, in a statement signed by Kennie Obateru, group general manager, group public affairs division, said it also recorded a 22 percent decline in administrative expenses from N894 billion in 2018 to N696 billion in 2019.

These figures represent some of best in the state-owned company’s history.

The statement quoted Umar Ajiya, the corporation’s chief financial officer, as saying the majority of the subsidiaries posted an improved performance during the year under review.

These include the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited (NPDC) which recorded N479 billion profit in 2019 compared to N179 billion in 2018 representing a 167 percent increase, and the Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL) which printed a N23 billion profit in 2019 compared to N154 million in 2018 — representing 14966 percent increase.

The Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) also recorded N14.2 billion profit in 2019 compared to N9.3 billion in 2018 representing a 52 percent increase.

However, the refineries have maintained the same level of losses as in 2018.

“This will reduce significantly in 2020 due to cost optimisation drive,” Ajiya said.

He explained that the improved performance in the 2019 financial year was driven mainly by cost optimisation, contracts renegotiation, and operational efficiency.

“The 2019 AFS goes further to demonstrate our unwavering commitment to the principle of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) while the outlook for 2020 looks promising in view of the Management’s strong drive to prune down running cost and grow revenues.”

Mele Kyari, group managing director of NNPC, had earlier promised to sustain the publication of the corporation’s audited financial statement as part of efforts to deepen transparency and accountability and keep stakeholders abreast of NNPC operations.

The release of the 2019 audited financial statement is coming barely five months after publishing its 2018 audited financial statement.