Nigeria’s oil and gas sector has long been the backbone of government revenue and foreign exchange, but investors on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) are increasingly shunning its listed companies. The divergence is stark: while crude prices have stayed relatively firm globally at an average of $65 per barrel this year, Nigerian energy equities have delivered negative returns, leaving them among the market’s biggest laggards in 2025. The NGX Oil and Gas Index has fallen 9.8 percent year-to-date, even as the All-Share Index gained 37.1 percent.
Nigeria’s oil and gas sector has long been the backbone of government revenue and foreign exchange, but investors on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) are increasingly shunning its listed companies. The divergence is stark: while crude prices have stayed relatively firm globally at an average of $65 per barrel this year, Nigerian energy equities have delivered negative returns, leaving them among the market’s biggest laggards in 2025. The NGX Oil and Gas Index has fallen 9.8 percent year-to-date, even as the All-Share Index gained 37.1 percent.