The Nigerian stock market reversed Tuesday’s gains on Wednesday as renewed profit-taking across major counters triggered a broad-based sell-off, wiping out approximately N648bn from investors’ wealth.

Widespread profit-taking outweighed targeted buying interest in selected counters, leaving market breadth firmly in the red as declining equities almost doubled those that recorded price appreciation.

At the close of trading, the Nigerian Exchange All-Share Index dropped 0.41 per cent, falling from an opening level of 247,984.55 basis points to settle at 246,980.17 basis points. In tandem with the benchmark index, total market capitalisation contracted from N159.992tn at the start of the session to close at N159.344tn.

Market breadth closed negative as 45 equities recorded price declines against 23 gainers, underscoring the dominant profit-taking mood among investors. The downturn was led by Cornerstone Insurance Plc, which shed 10.00 per cent to drop from N6.00 to N5.40, and Legend Internet Plc, which also fell 10.00 per cent to close at N4.05 from N4.50.

Other significant decliners included The Initiates Plc, which lost 9.91 per cent to land at N30.00; Guinea Insurance Plc, easing 9.78 per cent to N0.83; and ABC Transport Plc, which slipped 9.45 per cent to end the day at N5.75.

Despite the overarching bearish sentiment, insurance stocks remained in noticeable demand among bargain hunters. Lasaco Assurance Plc led the gainers’ chart, appreciating 10.00 per cent to move from N2.20 to N2.42. CNIF advanced 9.98 per cent to close at N154.30, while NEM Insurance Plc climbed 9.97 per cent to finish at N34.20. SUNU Assurances Nigeria Plc gained 9.83 per cent to settle at N3.91, and Prestige Assurance Plc rose 7.14 per cent to close at N1.50.

Meanwhile, major heavyweight counters provided a buffer against further market decline by remaining unchanged for the session. MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, Seplat Energy Plc, Custodian Investment Plc, and Julius Berger Nigeria Plc were among the prominent stocks that closed flat.

Nigeria LNG Limited has generated more than $150bn in revenue and exported over 6,000 liquefied natural gas cargoes across the globe since it commenced operations, highlighting its growing contribution to Nigeria’s economy as the country intensifies efforts to leverage its vast gas reserves.

The company also disclosed that it has paid over $47.2bn in dividends to shareholders, remitted more than $10bn in taxes to the Federal Government, and built an asset base valued at about $23bn, making it one of Nigeria’s biggest corporate contributors to government revenue.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NLNG, Mr Adeleye Falade, unveiled the figures on Tuesday during his maiden media engagement since assuming office on April 1, 2026.

The briefing, held in Lagos, also provided insight into the company’s growth plans, including the completion of Train 7 and early discussions around the development of Trains 8, 9 and 10, as NLNG seeks to expand Nigeria’s footprint in the global LNG market.

Taking journalists through NLNG’s performance over the past 37 years, Falade said the company had evolved into one of the world’s leading LNG exporters, delivering more than 6,000 cargoes safely to customers across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and other markets.

He explained that while many Nigerians assume NLNG produces natural gas, the company actually purchases gas from upstream producers, processes it by removing impurities, liquefies it, transports it through specialised vessels and markets it to buyers around the world.

“We don’t produce the gas. We buy gas, just like power companies buy gas. We process it, liquefy it, transport it and sell it across the world,” he said.

Falade disclosed that NLNG currently operates six liquefaction trains with a production capacity of 22 million tonnes per annum, describing the Bonny Island facility as the largest industrial complex in Sub-Saharan Africa.

He said the company also operates a fleet of 22 dedicated vessels, comprising 20 LNG carriers, one liquefied petroleum gas (cooking gas) vessel serving the domestic market and another dedicated vessel supporting operations.

Giving a breakdown of the company’s financial performance, Falade said NLNG has generated approximately $150bn in cumulative revenue since operations began 37 years ago.

He added that the company had distributed almost $50bn to shareholders as dividends, with actual payments standing at $47.2bn. “Our assets are currently valued at about $23bn. Right from where we started, we generated about $150bn in revenue. We managed to pay almost $50bn as dividends to our shareholders,” he said.

According to him, the Federal Government, through its equity holding in the company, remains the largest shareholder with a 49 per cent stake, while Shell, TotalEnergies and Eni own the remaining interests.

Falade stated that after the expiration of its pioneer tax status, NLNG became one of Nigeria’s largest taxpayers. “Right from when we became tax compliant, we’ve paid tax in excess of $10bn to the Federal Government,” he stated.

He explained that the company’s fiscal contributions extend beyond company income tax. According to him, about 60 per cent of payments made by NLNG for gas purchases eventually flow back to the Federal Government because of its equity participation in upstream producing companies.

He added that the company also pays petroleum-related taxes, value-added tax and other statutory levies. The NLNG boss said the company has emerged as Nigeria’s most tax-compliant corporate organisation for five consecutive years, while also making significant contributions through Pay-As-You-Earn taxes deducted from employees.

On domestic gas utilisation, Falade disclosed that NLNG supplied a record 500,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas, commonly known as cooking gas, to the Nigerian market last year.

He said the figure represents the highest annual domestic LPG supply since the company began local distribution in 2005 with only about 70,000 tonnes. At the time, he explained that the company now supplies about one-third of Nigeria’s cooking gas demand despite increasing its volumes more than sevenfold.

“Last year was the highest volume we’ve ever supplied in a single year when we supplied 500,000 tonnes of LPG. Today, that’s about 33 per cent of what the country demands,” he said.

Falade revealed that since 2022, NLNG has dedicated 100 per cent of its cooking gas production to the Nigerian market, abandoning exports in a bid to improve access to cleaner cooking fuel.

He said the decision was taken after the company reviewed a report by The PUNCH, indicating that thousands of Nigerians, particularly women, suffer health complications from cooking with firewood and other biomass.

According to him, increasing LPG availability contributes to reducing deforestation, indoor air pollution and carbon emissions while supporting Nigeria’s energy transition agenda.

The NLNG chief also highlighted the company’s contribution to reducing gas flaring. He said when NLNG was established, Nigeria flared about 65 per cent of the gas produced alongside crude oil.

Today, he said, that figure has fallen to below 20 per cent, with NLNG playing a major role by creating a commercial market for associated gas that would otherwise have been burnt into the atmosphere.

“Half of the gas that we get into our plant is associated gas. This is gas that people used to flare. Because we created a viable business case for that gas, we’ve helped reduce gas flaring significantly,” he stated.

Falade stressed that although Nigeria is widely regarded as an oil-producing nation, its greatest resource is natural gas. He said the country has about 209 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, with an estimated additional 600 trillion cubic feet yet to be fully proven.

Despite this, he argued that the country remains significantly behind competing LNG-producing nations. Drawing comparisons, he noted that Australia has developed LNG export capacity of about 88 million tonnes annually from proven reserves of around 120 trillion cubic feet, while Malaysia, with less than half of Nigeria’s proven reserves, also operates significantly larger LNG capacity.

“We are a gas country with some oil, but we’re just scratching the surface of our potential,” he said. To address this gap, Falade said the ongoing Train 7 project remains the company’s immediate growth priority.

He disclosed that the project would increase NLNG’s production capacity by 35 per cent from 22 million tonnes to 30 million tonnes annually when completed.