NNPC Plans 5%To 10% IPO Share Sale, Ojulari Tells Reuters

Nigeria’s state-owned oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), is likely to offer between five and 10 per cent of its shares in an initial public offering, according to its group chief executive, Bashir Bayo Ojulari.

Ojulari told Reuters that the IPO would initially focus on the domestic market, although NNPC could later pursue a secondary listing in London or New York. The company may also consider listing some of its subsidiaries, following a model used by the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company, ADNOC.

The CEO said preparations for a listing would likely take at least all of 2027. He said the main goal was to strengthen NNPC’s transparency and governance in line with Nigerian law, while raising capital would be a secondary objective.

The planned share sale would mark a major step for Nigeria’s oil sector, where NNPC has long faced calls for greater commercial discipline and financial openness. A successful IPO could also broaden local investor participation in the country’s energy industry.

Separately, Ojulari said Chinese companies had expressed interest in acquiring equity stakes—not merely contracts—in some of NNPC’s smaller refineries that require major repairs, including Port Harcourt and Warri. He said NNPC would retain at least 10% ownership under any such arrangement and expected at least one of the smaller refineries to resume production within three years.

The development comes as Nigeria’s Dangote refinery recently attracted 6.4 trillion naira, or about $4.78 billion, in orders during its domestic IPO, underscoring strong investor appetite for Nigerian energy assets.