- NNPC’s Losses Rise by 1,556% in One Month
The group financial and operations losses of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation increased by 1,556.1 per cent from October to November 2017, the latest figures released by the oil firm revealed.
Findings showed that the corporation’s losses had dropped from N2.81bn in September 2017 to N400m in October. But this could not be sustained as the oil firm’s deficit rose to a high of N6.79bn in November last year.
The NNPC, in its November 2017 report, stated that the drop in performance was due to reduced revenue in the downstream value chain as well as the shutdown of two of its refineries.
According to the corporation, the refineries are the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Port Harcourt Refining Company.
The oil firm said, “The November 2017 report indicated a trading deficit of N6.79bn, which is comparatively higher than the previous month’s deficit of N0.41bn. This represents N6.39bn increase in trading deficit compared to the October 2017 performance.
“The drop in the performance is attributable to the increased cost in upstream activities as well as the reduced revenue in the downstream value chain occasioned by high crude oil inventory in refineries due to unplanned operational shutdown of the KRPC and the PHRC, which led to increased losses from the refineries in November 2017.”
A further analysis of the report showed that for November 2017, Nigeria’s three refineries produced 55,187 metric tonnes of finished petroleum products and 39,562MT of intermediate products out of 107,748MT of crude processed at a combined capacity utilisation of 5.92 per cent, compared to 17.63 per cent combined capacity utilisation achieved in October 2017.
It said the decrease in operational performance recorded in November 2017 was attributed to the decline in crude processed by the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company while the PHRC and the KRPC remained shut during the month under review.
The report also stated that in November 2017, a total of 90 pipeline points were vandalised; 41 pipeline points failed to be welded; while six pipeline points were either ruptured or clamped.
“Thus, 136 pipeline points were destroyed in the month under review. The PHC-Aba and Aba-Enugu pipeline segment accounted for almost 67 per cent of the affected pipeline points,” it said.
On crude production, the NNPC stated that in October 2017, Nigeria’s production averaged 1.95 million barrels per day, representing a slight increase over September 2017 production, but up by 9.86 per cent over October 2016 performance.
It said the stability in production was attributed to the resumption of export activities at the Forcados Terminal after many months of non-operational activities, as well as the oil firm’s engagement with various stakeholders.
The report noted that some of the major negative impact to production included shut-in of over 200,000 bpd at Qua Iboe, Bonny and Akpo terminals.
It said the November 2017 national gas production stood at 236.97 billion standard cubic feet, translating to an average daily production of 7,899.01mmscfd, representing 0.03 per cent decrease compared to the previous month.
“The daily average natural gas supply to gas power plants amounted to 743.06mmscfd or equivalent to power generation of 3,115 megawatts, and is 7.98 per cent higher than the previous month and 32.92 per cent higher than the corresponding supply recorded in November 2016,” the NNPC said.
