Aishat Bakare
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has received ₦318.05 billion between January and August 2025 for frontier oil exploration, according to documents from the September Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting.
The deductions represent 30% of Production Sharing Contract (PSC) profits, automatically set aside monthly for exploration in inland basins under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
In July, the NUPRC unveiled its 2025 Frontier Basin Exploration and Development Plan, outlining seismic surveys, stress-field detection, and drilling programmes, including the logging of the Eba-1 well in Dahomey, a new wildcat in Bida, and reassessment of old wells in Chad.
Analysis of FAAC data shows PSC profits totalled ₦1.06 trillion in the eight months below the ₦1.58 trillion budgeted — but the 30% deduction was consistently applied.
By August, allocations had accumulated to ₦318.05billion. A parallel 30% deduction also went to NNPCL as management fees, bringing its total take to ₦636.1billion in eight months.
The 40% share of PSC profits that flows into the Federation Account has been hit by the deductions. Year-to-date, the account received ₦424.07billion ₦207.5billion below target.
Compounding the pressure, NNPCL has yet to remit a kobo of its interim dividends budgeted at ₦2.17 trillion for the year.
A FAAC subcommittee has demanded that the oil firm provide detailed financial records of all frontier exploration projects by September 19, but documents note the exercise is still work in progress.
