The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is facing crude-backed loan obligations estimated at N8.07tn, according to its 2024 financial statements.

The debts come from several forward-sale and project-financing deals that require repayment through large volumes of crude oil and gas. These facilities have become central to NNPCL’s funding as revenue pressures, unstable production, and low investment continue to challenge the oil sector.

One of the major liabilities is the Eagle Export Funding deal. While earlier loan tranches were cleared by 2023, the outstanding $900m (N1.1tn) facility obtained in 2023 remains unpaid and is backed by deliveries of 21,000 barrels per day until 2028.

NNPCL also owes N472bn to Nigeria LNG from a gas-supply financing deal where NLNG paid N772bn upfront, with only part of the gas delivered as of 2024.

For refinery upgrades, Project Yield—which funds the Port Harcourt Refinery—had an outstanding N1.4tn by the end of 2024, while Project Leopard carried N1.3tn. Both loans will be repaid with crude-oil deliveries starting in 2025.

The largest burden is Project Gazelle, used to fund advance tax and royalty payments. NNPCL had drawn N4.9tn from the N5.1tn facility, delivered crude worth N991bn, and still owed N3.8tn.

Altogether, these crude-for-loan deals commit NNPCL to deliver 213,000 barrels per day, a significant share of Nigeria’s total output.

The company’s crude and gas gross profit fell sharply by 43% to N1.08tn in 2024, far below the government’s target. Although production improved slightly to 1.43 million barrels per day, it still fell short of budget expectations due to theft and infrastructure challenges.

The World Bank also noted concerns over remittances, saying NNPCL transferred only 50% of subsidy-removal revenue gains in 2024, using the rest to settle old debts.