Oando Profit Hits N204.8 Billion on the Fields Eni Left
NIGERIA · ENERGY
Key Facts
—The result: Oando posted a profit after tax of 204.8 billion naira for 2025, on revenue of 3.21 trillion naira.
—The engine: Average production jumped 32 percent to 32,482 barrels of oil equivalent a day — the first full year with the oilfields bought from Italy’s Eni.
—The breakdown: Crude output rose 36 percent and gas 24 percent, while natural gas liquids surged 715 percent after processing upgrades.
—The balance sheet: Cash from operations reached 258.3 billion naira, and year-end cash of 422.9 billion naira was 172 percent higher than in 2024.
—The guidance: Oando targets 40,000 to 50,000 barrels a day in 2026, with capital spending of $90 million to $100 million across OMLs 60-63.
The Oando profit engine is running on the oilfields a Western major left behind: Nigeria’s home-grown energy group earned 204.8 billion naira in 2025 as production jumped 32 percent in its first full year operating the assets it bought from Eni.
Where the Oando profit comes from
The Lagos-listed group reported a 204.8 billion naira profit after tax for the year to December 2025, with revenue of 3.21 trillion naira. The result was powered by volume: average daily output climbed 32 percent to 32,482 barrels of oil equivalent.
It is the kind of report Nigerian markets have waited years to read from the company. After a stretch of debt-heavy expansion, the operating engine is finally doing the talking.
The year marked Oando’s first full twelve months operating the Nigerian Agip Oil Company joint-venture assets it acquired from Eni in 2024. Management framed 2025 as the shift from acquisition-led growth to operational execution.
The numbers arrived in a year of soft oil prices, which makes the volume story the real headline. When prices retreat, barrels and costs decide earnings.
Inside the numbers
Crude oil production rose 36 percent and gas 24 percent. Natural gas liquids were the outlier, surging 715 percent after upgrades to gas processing infrastructure.
The liquids surge is the quiet win. Stripped from gas streams, they fetch premium prices, and the jump reflects processing plants finally running as designed.
The balance sheet strengthened alongside the wells. Operations generated 258.3 billion naira in cash, and the group closed the year holding 422.9 billion naira — 172 percent more than a year earlier.
Revenue, notably, was lower than the prior year even as profit climbed. Higher-margin barrels from operated assets did more work than trading turnover, a healthier mix for shareholders.
Costs matter as much as volumes on mature onshore fields. The company credits integration and shared infrastructure with keeping the acquired barrels profitable at softer prices.
The Eni inheritance
Oando’s transformation traces to one deal: the purchase of Eni’s Nigerian onshore joint-venture business, closed in 2024 as European majors retreated from the Niger Delta. That retreat handed local operators producing fields, pipelines and licences a generation in the making.
Eni was hardly alone. Shell, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies have all sold or shrunk onshore Nigerian positions, pushed by theft, spills, litigation and easier barrels elsewhere.
The buyers inherit the problems along with the production. Pipeline vandalism and crude theft remain endemic in the Delta, and community relations now sit squarely on Nigerian shoulders.
For Abuja, the handover is policy as much as market outcome. Regulators smoothed the divestments on the promise that local operators would invest where the majors no longer would.
The pattern extends well beyond one company. Seplat took over ExxonMobil’s former shallow-water business, and Aradel tripled profit on a similar acquisition harvest, The Rio Times has reported — the local side of the story tracked in our Africa: The New Scramble pillar.
What 2026 is supposed to deliver
Guidance calls for production of 40,000 to 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day this year, supported by a development programme across oil mining leases 60 to 63. Planned capital expenditure is $90 million to $100 million.
The company flagged its strengthened cash position as the platform for that growth. In a market where Nigerian independents have often over-borrowed, a 422.9 billion naira cushion is its own message.
Chief executive Wale Tinubu, who co-founded the company, has spent three decades turning a fuel marketer into an upstream producer. The 2025 accounts, published in the company’s results statement, are the strongest proof yet that the bet is paying.
Why it matters
Nigeria needs its indigenous producers to succeed. Government revenue, the naira and fuel supply all lean on output that Western majors no longer want to pump onshore.
Oando’s shares trade in both Lagos and Johannesburg, so the report card lands in front of a cross-border audience. Regional investors are effectively grading Nigeria’s whole indigenous-operator experiment.
Delivering the top of the 2026 range would place Oando firmly among Nigeria’s largest indigenous producers. Missing it would revive old questions about execution that this result has quieted.
For investors, Oando is becoming a test case of whether Nigerian operators can run mature assets more profitably than the majors that built them. One strong year is evidence, not yet proof — the 2026 targets will tell.
Frequently asked questions
How much profit did Oando make in 2025?
Oando reported a profit after tax of 204.8 billion naira for the year ended December 31, 2025, on revenue of 3.21 trillion naira.
Why did Oando’s production jump 32 percent?
It was the first full year operating the Nigerian Agip Oil Company joint-venture assets acquired from Eni in 2024. Average output reached 32,482 barrels of oil equivalent a day, with crude up 36 percent and natural gas liquids up 715 percent.
What does Oando expect for 2026?
The company targets production of 40,000 to 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, with capital spending of $90 million to $100 million across OMLs 60-63.
Who leads Oando?
Group chief executive Wale Tinubu, who co-founded the company and led its expansion from fuel marketing into upstream oil and gas production.
Connected Coverage
The indigenous-energy wave is a running Rio Times story: Aradel tripled profit on the assets Western majors sold, UTM just moved Nigeria’s first floating LNG plant toward final approval, and Seplat handed its chair to Tony Elumelu in a Nigerian oil power shift.
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