Nigeria's state-oil firm NNPC is now a fully incorporated company in compliance with a new petroleum law, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday.
Buhari, who is also petroleum minister, signed an oil bill into law last month that had been in the works for nearly two decades, aiming to overhaul the sector and turn the state-owned oil firm into a limited liability company.
The president said NNPC had reached "a significant milestone" after receiving the certificate of incorporation at his office, adding that the firm would have to compete with global peers.
Alhaji Abubakar, the registrar of the country's Corporate Affairs Commission, which registers companies, NNPC's capitalization stood at 200 billion naira ($485 million), one of the country's biggest. He did not provide further details.
Last month, NNPC chief Mele Kyari said in a TV interview with Bloomberg the company could consider an initial public offering within three years.
(Reporting by Felix Onuah, writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe. Editing by Jane Merriman)