The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) says it recorded a profit of N674 billion after tax in 2021.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari, made the disclosure while speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday.

Kyari stated that the profit represented a growth of 134.84 per cent when compared with N287 billion profit recorded under the old Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in 2020.

He said: “In 2019, we rolled out deliberate policies and initiatives aimed at reducing costs and eliminating losses while adopting technology to entrench Transparency, Accountability, and Performance Excellence (TAPE) across the various functions that support our business operations.

“Since then, we began to see the transformational impact of these policies and initiatives on NNPC’s performance. We have recorded significant improvement in our financial performance over the past three years, turning up the curve, from losses to profits.

READ ALSO: Buhari: Corruption undermines govt’s investments in education

“In September 2021, Mr. President graciously approved the publication of the 2020 NNPC Group Audited Financial Statement, in which NNPC declared a profit after tax of N287 billion for the first time in its 44 years.

“Despite our challenging operating environment, we strongly believe that NNPC has the potential to sustainably deliver better value to its esteemed shareholders.

“Today, I am happy to announce that the Board of NNPC Limited has approved 2021 audited financial statements, and NNPC has progressed to a new performance level, from N287 billion profit in 2020 to N674 billion profit after tax in 2021, climbing higher by 134.8% YoY profit growth.”

Kyari said the NNPCL recorded an increase in total assets from N15.86 trillion in 2020 to N16.27 trillion in 2021, adding that the corporation’s total liabilities decreased by 8.3 per cent from N14.68 trillion in 2020 to N13.46 trillion in 2021.

He stated that the NNPCL’s shareholders fund position rose N2.81 trillion representing 144 per cent year-on-year.

“The performance would have been greater if the operations in the year under review were free from incessant vandalism, crude oil, and products theft among others.

“Details of the performance of NNPC and the respective Subsidiaries as well as that of NAPIMS will be published on our website www.nnpcgroup.com for the kind perusal of our stakeholders,” Kyari added.