Bayo Ojulari, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, says the company has completed the main line to the Ajaokuta-Kano-Kaduna (AKK) gas pipeline.
Ojulari spoke on Sunday after meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Lagos.
He said the company has been able to successfully complete the “welding of the main line of the AKK gas pipeline”.
“You remember sometime in summer, we were able to cross the River Niger which has been a struggle for many years,” Ojulari said.
“By completing this main line, what that means is that we can begin to make all the connections to the main line, which we will do in the earlier parts of next year.
“And why that is very important is that that brings gas in its full form into the northern part of Nigeria. We’re looking at Kaduna, Kano, and also of course, Ajaokuta, and Abuja where we begin to see industrialisation, industrial parks taking gas for gas-based industry, fertilizer plants, as well as generating power.”
Furthermore, the GCEO said the purpose of his visit to the president was to “update him about the end of 2025 performance of NNPC” as well as discuss the “strategic priorities for 2026”.
With Tinubu’s support, Ojulari said the NNPC has been able to make significant improvements to its structure.
“You’ve seen our production this year. Last year we were about 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd). This year we’re getting to about over 1.7 million bpd in terms of oil production,” he said.
‘The same thing, our gas production has also increased from about 6.5 million standard cubic feet to about over 7 billion standard cubic feet per day. So I think some of those are underpinned by very structural changes within the organisation.”
The GCEO said in 2026, the company’s most important priority was focusing on increasing production.
“When we say increasing production, it sounds simple but there’s a lot that goes into it,” he said.
“It means attracting the right investment to increase production, whether it’s oil or gas. And next year, we’re hoping to achieve at least 1.8 million barrels per day again, stepping up from where we are this year in terms of oil production as well as further increase in terms of gas production.”
Ojulari said the company also expects additional and significant investment in 2026.
“We’re expecting more investment decisions to come through next year. Next year also, we’re looking at our portfolio as well, to rationalise our portfolio,” he said.
“This is to ensure that we can do that in a way that we attract more investment for incremental production as well as more investment to develop all the fields that have been fallow for a very very long time.”
Ojulari added that the president charged NNPC to achieve set goals of additional N30 billion investment by 2030 and increase oil production to two million bpd by 2027.
