NNPC sold $20.9bn crude oil in seven months

GMD, NNPC, Mr.Andrew Yakubu

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation realised a total of $20.91bn in the first seven months of this year from the sale of 191,939,235 barrels of crude oil.

The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, disclosed this in a presentation to the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) in Abuja on Thursday.

In the presentation, which was done behind close door but obtained by our correspondent, Yakubu said 92,395,063 barrels of oil valued at $10.07bn were allocated for domestic consumption in the first seven months of the year.

The sales statistics of the corporation showed that in the month of January, it realised $4.34bn from 37,675,591 barrels of crude oil. In February, $2.36bn was realised from 20,590,812 barrels of oil.

In the month of March, the corporation sold 30,901,111.67 barrels for $3.35bn. The earning went down to $2.58bn from 25,116,194.39 barrels in the month of April, and $2.98bn from 28,411,526.25 barrels of oil in May.

 In June, the NNPC made $2.6bn from 24,708, 531.8 barrels, while in July, it realised the sum of $2.69bn from the sale of 24,535,468 barrels of oil.

The amount realised for the period, according to Yakubu, did not include the Petroleum Profit Tax for the NNPC Joint Venture, which, he said, was paid directly to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

He said, “The projected budget revenues have not been realised due to significant production shortfall. The 2013 planned production was 2.45 million barrels per day. Year-to-date July 2013 production has averaged 2.19mb/d.

“Although oil prices have averaged $108/bbl, which is about $38/bbl above the budget benchmark, this has not led to improvement in government revenues due to production shortfall occasioned by crude theft and pipeline vandalism.”

Statistics presented by the NNPC boss showed that the corporation lost a total of 11,753,217 barrels of crude oil between 2010 and 2012.

At a price of $110 per barrel, this means that the nation lost about $1.29bn to crude oil theft.

On year by year basis, the nation lost 2,316,281 barrels of oil in 2010; 6,391,311 barrels in 2011; and 3,045,625 barrels in 2012.

Yakubu said the corporation had progressed with plans for the rehabilitation of the refineries, beginning with the Port Harcourt refinery.

He said, “Pending completion of the rehabilitation projects, the various interventions carried out in the refineries have already resulted in improvement in performance as follows: Average annual capacity utilisation has increased from 21 per cent in 2010 to 31 per cent in 2013.

 “It is significant to state that but for the incessant vandalism of the crude supply and product evacuation pipelines, the average capacity utilisation would have been much higher.”

The NNPC boss added, “Contribution to in-country product supply from the refineries has grown from about four million litres per day of Premium Motor Spirit in 2010 to about 10 million litres/day as of the first quarter of 2013. This has reduced the expenditure on fuel importation.

“Other benefits of the turnaround and refineries revamping include improved on-stream availability, improved unit throughput/capacity utilisation, improved finished product yield, and improved financial performance.”

For domestic use, the NNPC allocated 19,553,358 barrels of oil for the month of January. At $115.11, this was valued at $2.25bn. In February, 10,077,881bbls were allocated for domestic consumption valued at $1.15bn.

A total of 16,018,099bbls valued at $1.73bn was allocated in March; 10,176,614bbls valued at $1.04bn was allocated in April; 12,537,509bbls valued at $1.32bn was allocated in May; 12,596,553bbls valued at $1,32bn was allocated in June; and 11,435,049bbls valued at $1.25bn was allocated in the month of July.

Speaking to journalists at the end of the oversight visit to the NNPC, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Mr. Muraino Ajibola, said the lawmakers would help the Federal Government to tackle the menace of oil theft in order to increase the funds available to the federation.

Ajibola said, “They have presented the facts to us and we have also been presented with their challenges of which several of them we are aware of and you know the steps we have taken, particularly on the issue of oil theft.

“As a proactive House, we had taken steps on that matter to set up a joint petroleum committee and came up with resolutions and called on the government to make sure that the resolutions were implemented.

“We have been assured that in conjunction with the NNPC, the Federal Government is already implementing many of these resolutions and they have also assured us that as a result of this implementation, there is a downward trend with regards to oil theft, and we hope and pray that these efforts will continue so that we can continue to generate more revenue for the use of our country.”

He added, “The position of the NNPC in all these is very strategic. There are hardly any of those resolutions that they will implement without the input and support of the NNPC, and there are some of them that can be implemented with little efforts like the proposal for dedicated telephone lines.”