Nigeria may sell 40% of future state oil company within 10 years

ABUJA, Nigeria (Bloomberg) -- Nigeria’s government may sell 40% of a new national oil company within 10 years of its creation, according to a draft law.

At least 10% 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%, while the Bureau of Public Enterprise is to hold the remaining 49% 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 CEO 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.