Legislation signed by President Muhammadu Buhari this month enables the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. to offer shares to the public, Managing Director Mele Kyari said at a briefing Thursday in the capital, Abuja. A listing would draw on the experience of Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian oil giant that listed in 2019, he said. “There is no date on it, but there is a possibility of doing this,” Kyari said. NNPC reported net income of 287 billion naira ($698 million) in 2020, compared with losses of 1.7 billion naira in 2019 and 803 billion naira the year before. The Abuja-based company, which released audited results for the first time two years ago, has for years operated under a cloak of secrecy often mired by allegations of corruption. “Obviously because you have made profit today doesn’t mean you are ready for IPO,” Kyari said. “It is a very, very long, tedious process.” Buhari became president of Africa’s biggest oil producer in 2015 with a pledge to improve transparency in government corporations, including the NNPC. Under the Petroleum Industry Act he approved on Aug. 16, the NNPC will be registered as a commercially focused entity.
Source: https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/africa/348248/nnpc-ipo-kyari-aramco/