Home News NNPC recorded N9.53bn trading deficit in March

NNPC recorded N9.53bn trading deficit in March

Credits to the Source Link Lawal Sherifat
NNPC

By Michael Eboh

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on Wednesday, announced a trading deficit of N9.53 billion in its operations for March 2020, representing a sharp decline compared to the N3.95 billion surplus recorded in February 2020.

In a statement in Abuja, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, disclosed that the trading deficit, which was as a result of an over 300 per cent decline in March 2020 earnings was due primarily to the huge decrease of 181 per cent in the NNPC’s upstream subsidiary, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company’s  (NPDC earnings.

He explained that the not-too-impressive financial performance was mainly due to the deficits posted by the refineries, along with the decline in crude oil prices precipitated by the Coronavirus-induced global slowdown, which led to reduced exports and dwindling world oil consumption,  among others.

Obateru stated that the NNPC recorded total crude oil and gas export sales of $256.19 million in March 2020, representing a decline of 30.89 per cent when compared to last month’s export.

Of the total sales, Obateru disclosed that crude oil export sales contributed $184.59 million, 72.05 per cent of the dollar transactions compared with $281.14 million contributions in the previous month; while export gas sales amounted to $71.60 million in the month under review.

He added that the country recorded $4.95 billion worth of crude oil and gas exports from March 2019 to March 2020.

In addition, he noted that 218.37 Billion Cubic Feet (BCF) of natural gas was produced in March 2020, translating to an average daily production of 7493.65 million Standard Cubic Feet per Day (mmscfd).

He said, “3.119 trillion cubic feet of gas was produced for the period March 2019 to March 2020, representing an average daily production of 7.912 BCF per day during the period.

“Period-to-date production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and NPDC contributed about 69.37 per cent, 21.67 per cent and 8.95 per cent, respectively, to the total national gas production.

“Out of the 218.37 BCF of gas supplied in March 2020, according to the report, 120.73 BCF of gas was commercialized, consisting of 33.45 BCF and 87.28 BCF for the domestic and export market respectively, translating to 1.236 BCF per day of gas to the domestic market and 3.817 BCF per day if gas supplied to the export market for the month.

“55.63 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialized, while the balance of 44.37% was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared. Gas flare rate was 9.08 per cent for the month under review, which is 679.54 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), compared with average gas flare rate of 8.43 per cent, that is 666.90 mmscfd for March 2019 to March 2020.”

In the downstream sector, to ensure continuous availability of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol, and effective distribution of the product across the country, Obateru stated that 1.73 billion litres of PMS, translating to 59.72 million liters per day were supplied for the month.

He disclosed that the NNPC had continued to diligently monitor the daily stock of PMS to achieve the smooth distribution of petroleum products and zero fuel queue across the nation.

He further noted that within the period under review, 19 pipeline points were vandalized representing about 47 per cent decrease from the 32 points recorded in February 2020.

According to him, Atlas Cove-Mosimi accounted for 53 per cent of total pipeline vandalisation, while Mosimi-Ibadan recorded 21 per cent and Suleja-Minna accounted for the remaining 26 per cent.

He assured that the NNPC, in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders, would continuously strive to reduce the menace to the barest level.

He added that the corporation carried its adherence to transparency and accountability a notch higher last week, 19th March 2020 when it published its 2018 Audited Financial Report, a move that has received accolades from transparency watchdogs locally and internationally, in addition to endorsement by many Nigerians who encouraged other government agencies to follow suit.

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