NNPC deploys N22 trillion in 2025, royalties gulp N11.6 trillion

NNPC Group spent N22 trillion in 2025 comprising N11.56 trillion royalties, N6.46 trillion spent on oil and gas properties and N4 trillion paid as dividends for the year.

This is according to its 2025 Audited Financial Statements released on Wednesday.

The payments provide a breakdown of how the group deployed cash during the year, covering government-related payments, investments in oil and gas assets, employee costs and other financial obligations.

Compared with 2024, several major payment categories increased significantly, including royalties, dividends, spending on oil and gas properties and interest on contract liabilities.

Royalties account for largest payment

Royalties were the largest payment recorded by NNPC Group in 2025, rising sharply from the previous year.

• Group royalty payments increased to N11.56 trillion in 2025 from N2.83 trillion in 2024.
• Income tax payments rose moderately to N3.15 trillion from N3.06 trillion.
• Employee benefits increased to N171.47 billion from N73.65 billion.
• Dividend payments surged to N4 trillion from N243.5 billion.

At the company level, NNPC Limited paid N8.49 trillion in royalties in 2025, compared with N1.38 trillion in 2024, while income tax payments rose to N2.59 trillion from N1.88 trillion.

The figures show that royalty payments accounted for the biggest increase among the major government-related payments recorded by the group during the year.

NNPC spends N6.46 trillion on oil assets

NNPC Group’s investment in oil and gas properties also increased in 2025, reflecting higher spending on its core assets.

• Purchases of oil and gas properties rose to N6.46 trillion from N5.62 trillion in 2024.
• Spending on other property, plant and equipment increased to N3 trillion from N2.60 trillion.
• Principal payments on leases rose to N133.19 billion from N122.49 billion.
• Interest paid on contract liabilities increased to N847.58 billion from N272.04 billion.

NNPC Limited accounted for N5.37 trillion of the group’s oil and gas property purchases in 2025, compared with N2.26 trillion a year earlier.

Other investment outlays included N78.97 billion for intangible assets and N2.39 billion for investments in joint ventures and associates.

Dividend payments jump to N4 trillion

Dividend payments represented another major cash outflow for the group, increasing more than 16-fold from N243.5 billion in 2024 to N4 trillion in 2025.

• The entire N4 trillion dividend payment was recorded at the company level in the financial statement.
• The group also spent N2.996 trillion on other property, plant and equipment, while employee benefit payments more than doubled during the year.
• NNPC Limited’s higher cash deployment came in a year when its profit after tax rose 33% to N7.2 trillion, although revenue declined 24% to N34.5 trillion.

Nairametrics earlier reported that NNPC Limited had recorded N5.4 trillion in profit after tax on N45.1 trillion revenue in 2024.

The company also generated N29.21 trillion from crude oil sales in 2024, compared with N14.07 trillion in 2023.

In April, the Nigeria Revenue Service took over the collection of mineral royalties from mining operators following the implementation of the Nigeria Tax Laws 2025.