Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Mele Kyari, has disclosed that the state-owned oil firm will sell its shares to members of the public through an initial public offering (IPO) in 2024.
Mr Kyari made this disclosure in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday. He further said the IPO will help Nigeria keep pace with the global energy transition in a bid to unlock its benefits as it will make it possible to raise funds to help sustain the profit it made for the first this year in 44 years.
“We want to get ready. The earliest consideration would be in three years’ time,” he said in the interview.
He said NNPC would first need to recapitalise and get its books in order and the ministries of finance and petroleum would need to sit together to approve sales of company shares.
“IPO already means this company is going to be profitable,” Mr Kyari said.
“It has a long trajectory, it has short term view of how things can be done better to align with best practices in the industry, trying to see how we can latch on the existing framework for an energy transition that is ongoing all the world,” he added.
The IPO seems to be the next course following the signing of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which is set to decentralise the corporation within six months.
Mr Kyari also told Bloomberg that he did not think the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) needed to pause its incremental monthly production increases because the oil market was still facing supply shortages.
The group agreed earlier this month to proceed with a 400,000 barrel per day production increase for October as it phases out record cuts it brought in last year to tackle the pandemic-induced demand drop.
Business Post had reported that President Muhammadu Buhari announced a profit in the sum of N287 billion for 2020, its first-ever since it was set up in the 1970s.
It also noted that it has cut costs, improved efficiency and lowered borrowing rates.
