Nigeria’s government may sell 40 percent of a new national oil company within 10 years of its creation, according to a draft law.
At least 10 percent of the company will be divested within five first years, according to the draft bill handed to reporters in Parliament in the capital, Abuja. Nigeria’s Petroleum Ministry will hold 51 percent while the Bureau of Public Enterprise is to hold the remaining 49 percent for government.
Last month, President Muhammadu Buhari approved a restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. into five units in a bid to reform the behemoth and make it profitable again. The business units comprising upstream, downstream, gas and power, refinery and a ventures group will each be headed by a chief executive officer and will have at least two other subsidiaries.
The NNPC lost 267 billion naira ($1.34 billion) last year after being dragged down by its refining business and as the finances of Africa’s top crude producer has been battered by a drop in oil prices in the past 12 months. Buhari has made it a priority to restructure the company and rid it of the corruption that multiple probes have said is rampant.
(Source: BLOOMBERG)