The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Crude oil

  • Buhari welcomes moves to import crude from Niger Republic

    …Nigeria, Niger sign MoU

     

     

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday hailed the move by Nigeria to export crude oil from Niger Republic.

    He also welcomed the setting up of a refinery in Katsina state that will make use of “stranded crude” from Niger Republic.

    The two countries on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Read Also:APC threatens expulsion for ministers who disobey Buhari

    At the ceremony, President Buhari thanked the Niger delegation for considering Nigeria as a partner on what he observed as a mutually beneficial strategic initiative.

    According to him, Nigeria and Niger have had excellent relations for several decades as neighbours sharing a long border with common cultural and historical ties.

    Nigeria, he said, sees the cooperation on crude oil export from the Republic of Niger and construction of refinery facilities in Katsina State as a “win – win” for both nations.

    He said: “The initiative will not only provide a reliable market for the stranded crude from the Niger Republic but will also provide petroleum products for Nigeria, as it aggressively pursues its aspiration on petroleum product self-sufficiency.

    “In addition, it is my hope that the current frontier exploration efforts in the Northern part of the country (Chad Basin, Gongola Basin, Sokoto Basin, Bida Basin and Benue trough) will also result in the provision of additional hydrocarbon inflow to the corridors of the proposed pipeline and a potential refinery around Kaduna axis.

    “I am happy that several productive engagements held between the Nigerian and Nigerien authorities have resulted in the positive agreements to progress with activities on this important project.

    “This project will be private sector driven with the full support of the governments of both countries and I am happy to understand that several expressions of interest from prospective investors are already being received,” he said.

    He also announced the setting up of a steering committee to be chaired by the Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachiku, while the alternate chairman is the Nigerien Minister of Petroleum, to provide strategic leadership, direction and governance oversight for the project.

    He also said that a Senior level Joint Technical Team has been selected based on competence to develop the implementation roadmap and strategy on both the refinery and pipeline projects.

    He said that the team will be led by Nigeria’s Engineer Rabiu Suleiman supported by the DG Hydrocarbon of Niger Republic.

    Buhari said he expected that by December 2018, the group will come up with a detailed roadmap and guideline leading to actual execution of the projects.

    He directed that the detailed roadmap should cover the following: Bankable feasibility studies for both the Refinery and pipeline projects; Optimal project site, pipeline routes and details; Security plan and selected consortia of investors for both the refinery and pipeline projects.

    The President assured of Nigeria’s commitment to pursuing “this partnership with vigour and determination.”

    In his address at the occasion, Kachiku said Buhari has personally driven the initiative, which he said was propelled by the sole desire to create a more favourable investment opportunity in Nigeria’s downstream sector and encourage cross border economic development.

    The occasion was witnessed by the President of Niger Republic, Issoufou Mahammadou.

    Speaking on when the refinery will start, an oil and gas investor, Ibrahim Zakari said “I think the two presidents have already mentioned everything. It is going to be private driven by investors-100 percent private driven   .We are one of the investors who are willing to invest almost 2bn dollars.

    “The funds are coming from abroad, us, Canada, India and the middle east. It’s going to be a 50 thousand barrel refinery then we will scale it up to 100 thousand with the crude coming from Niger Republic.

    On the time frame, he said “It will take 3-5 years to complete the refinery, it’s a Modular refinery. It will create 2500 direct employment and over 10 thousand indirect employment.  It will cover not only Katsina and the North but the whole of Nigeria.”

  • Costly gridlock

    Realising the imperative of urgent diversification of the country’s economy to substantially reduce its dependence on crude oil exports for foreign exchange earnings, drastically limit imports, especially of non-essential commodities, and enhance economic self-reliance, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has commendably  adopted policies designed to boost non-oil exports, with particular emphasis on agriculture. Consequently, there has been an improvement in the domestic production of products like rice, yams, soya beans, sesame seeds, as well as cashew nuts in shell and flour.

    Yet, the continued parlous state of critical infrastructure across the country constitutes a serious threat to the realisation of the government’s objectives in this regard.

    The virtual state of emergency that obtains in Apapa, Lagos, one of the country’s major economic nerve centres, as a result of protracted traffic gridlock offers the most vivid and disturbing mirror of this grave challenge. According to reports, the Tin Can Island Port II, Apapa, one of the largest dry port facilities in the country which handles close to 80 per cent of imports and exports, has practically been on lockdown as the bad roads and traffic gridlock have impeded smooth access to the port by importers and exporters. As a result, the country has not recorded any exports through this facility in the first two months of 2018.

    Mr. Sadiq Farouk, Public Relations Manager of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Area Command in charge of the terminal confirmed to the media that no revenue from export of Nigerian products had been generated by the service between January and the first week of March this year. This certainly is bad news for an economy that needs all the revenue it can generate to consolidate its still fragile recovery from recession and stimulate further growth.

    It is thus not surprising that the sharp drop by 51% in Nigeria’s non-oil exports witnessed in the second half of 2017 has deteriorated further in the first quarter of this year. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that the value of agricultural exports so far this quarter is 38.43 percent lower than the second quarter of 2017.

    One serious consequence of this situation is the steep rise in the cost of doing business at the ports. Since trucks have to queue for close to two months before being able to reach the port terminals to drop cargoes or offload containers due to the bad and clogged roads, truck owners are said to have hiked their charges by 230 percent; thus charging N200, 000 per container compared to the former cost of N60,000. Matters are worsened by the absence of storage facilities for perishable agricultural products like yams, which decay rapidly under sustained heat.

    Business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, had last month drawn attention to the huge drain that the Apapa-Wharf Road gridlock constitutes to the economy when he noted that it is causing a loss of about N86 billion daily to businesses and residents. Apart from the traffic gridlock, Dangote also deplored the heavy presence of diverse task forces, including the Customs, on the highway checking and certifying goods. We agree with his suggestion that such checkpoints should not be mounted beyond the toll gates so that they do not continue to further compound an already intolerable scenario.

    A state of emergency, even if informal, clearly exists in the Apapa axis, which requires drastic remediation. Given its crippling economic effect, everything should be done to ensure that work is accelerated on the ongoing reconstruction of the major road leading to the Apapa and Tin Can Ports being undertaken by Dangote Group, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc and Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) at a cost of N4.34 billion. The same goes for the ongoing palliative work on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway as well as the trailer park, which government is constructing off the expressway to decongest access roads to the ports.

  • Stakeholders weigh crude oil export regimes

    Stakeholders weigh crude oil export regimes

    A high-powered meeting of stakeholders in the maritime industry has been convened to generate ideas on how best to export Nigerian crude oil to attract maximum benefits for Nigeria.

    The meeting with theme: “Free On-Board (FOB) and Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) Incoterms Framework for Export of Nigerian Crude Oil and Gas” was organized by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in conjunction with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

    In his welcome address to participants, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said various attempts in the past to transit from the Free-on-Board (FOB) to Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) system of exporting the nation’s crude oil had failed and that there was no better time than now to revisit the issue wholistically to determine which of the systems best serves the interest of Nigeria.

    NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu disclosed this in a statement issued at Abuja yesterday.

    The statement noted that Kachikwu urged participants to come up with recommendations to help the Federal Government take appropriate decision on the issue with a view to enhancing the nation’s the economy.

    The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, in his keynote address, said the corporation’s preference for FOB was informed by the prevailing security situation and the need to guarantee steady revenue into the Federation Account.

    He explained that under CIF, petroleum cargoes are legally the property of the Federal Government which could pose a danger to the country’s earning as creditors could procure court orders to confiscate crude oil cargoes as a means of securing payment of Nigeria’s indebtedness.

    “The experiences of Nigerian Airways and the Nigerian National Shipping Line both of which had their vessels/crafts and cargoes confiscated on court orders obtained by creditors is unpleasant to recall.

    “Due to these peculiarities, we find it most appropriate to transfer the potential risks associated with the ownership of the cargo to the buyer at the load port in Nigeria which FOB incoterm allows. Government/NNPC’s liability ends as the crude oil passes from loading hose at the vessel’s manifold to the loading vessel. The buyer pays for Freight, Marine Insurance, unloading and transportation from the load port in Nigeria to the destination”, he stated.

    He said NNPC was, however, not unmindful of the value erosion inherent in the FOB sale arrangement, adding that the corporation was open to new ideas on the proper mix that could enable synergy and collaboration amongst different stakeholders to guarantee security of federation revenue as well as guard against associated risks involved in delivery of crude oil and Gas to customers.

    On his part, the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, said while there was no correct answer to the issue of freight system to adopt, there was need to be open-minded about possible alternatives that could help in the quest to diversify the economy.

    He urged participants to be guided by the national interest in their discussion and explore all possible opportunities.

  • 254 firms bid to lift Nigerian crude

    254 firms bid to lift Nigerian crude

    A total of 254 indigenous and foreign owned entities submitted bids for the sale and purchase of the Federal Government equity crude under the 2018/2019 crude oil term contracts.

    The bid was witnessed by officials of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), as well as representatives of the civil society.

    A statement by General Manager of NNPC Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu said eventual winners are expected to be off-takers licensed to  trade on the Nigeria’s equity crude for a 12 months period.

    Nigeria’s crude oil allocation is done once every month to only successful companies.

    Addressing the prospecting off-takers shortly before the commencement of the bid exercise, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, said that the exercise was designed to promote greater participation of Nigerian enterprise, while preserving World-class standards.

    He assured that the best practices would be adopted in the selection of bidders, as he promised fairness and just treatment in the process.

    “I wish to remind the general public that the Crude Oil Term Contract is not a Procurement Contract but a process of selecting partners for the sale and procurement of NNPC Equity crude oil volumes,’’ Dr. Baru clarified during the bid opening session.

    Malam Mele Kyari, Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division, said some of the potential off-takers must be able to fulfill a long list of stringent requirements which include minimum annual turnover of $500 million for 2016 and Net worth of $250 million for 2016.

    He said apart from possession of 2015 & 2016 audited accounts, aspiring off-takers must demonstrate the ability to establish an irrevocable Letter of Credit (LC) subject to contract terms.

    On the marketability of Nigeria’s crude in the international market, Malam Kyari said Europe remained the major destination of Nigerian crude grades, accounting for 36.59 per cent of the total sales, with Asia and the Far East receiving 28.43 per cent.

    He further said 16.57 per cent of Nigeria’s crude grades was exported to North America, 13.17 per cent to Africa, 2.84 per cent to South and Central America, while the rest of the world served as beneficiaries for the rest.

    He informed that the sustained reforms in the marketing and disposal of Nigeria’s equity crude had eliminated the ugly incidents of ‘briefcase’ companies as witnessed in the past.

     

  • NNPC plans to lift 80% of crude oil

    NNPC plans to lift 80% of crude oil

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is planning to allocate 80 per cent of its crude Oil lifting deal to NNPC Trading, an arm of the corporation which evolved from the merger of its trading companies.

    Managing Director of NNPC Trading Limited, Ibrahim Waya, revealed this in an interview published in the corporation’s quarterly magazine.

    NNPC Trading currently handles 40 per cent of the country’s oil lifting.

    In January this year, the Federal Government awarded one-year crude lifting contracts, covering about 1.31 million barrels per day, to 39 companies — 18 of them Nigerian, 11 international trading houses, five foreign refineries, three national oil companies and two NNPC trading arms.

    All the contracts are for 32,000 barrels per day (bpd) except Duke Oil Ltd, an arm of the NNPC, which trades 90,000 barrels per day.

    Some of the local beneficiaries, whose share of oil lifting contracts will be affected, are Oando Trading, Sahara, MRS Oil and Gas, A.A. Rano, Bono, Masters Energy, Eterna Oil and Gas, Cassiva Energy, Hyde Energy, Brittania-U, Northwest Petroleum and Shoreline Limited.

    Some of the international oil traders are Trafigura, ENOC Trading, BP Trading, Total Trading, Heritage Oil and Glencore.

    India Oil Company, Sinopec of China and Saccoil of South Africa fall under the government-to-government category.

    But Waya said Maikanti Baru, group managing director of the NNPC, has directed NNPC Trading to take charge of 80 per cent of the deal by the end of 2018.

    He said: “The current management of NNPC under the watch of Dr Baru is giving us every support to jerk (jack) up our operation from 10 per cent to 40 per cent.

    “And the GMD told us that what he wants to achieve for trading is that by the end of 2018, he wants NNPC trading to have 80 per cent in terms of Nigeria’s crude oil and also conversely by the end of 2018, we want to do every form of import of products, if need be to augment the local production of products through NNPC Trading.”

  • NNPC rakes in $2.52bn from crude oil, gas sale in one year 

    NNPC rakes in $2.52bn from crude oil, gas sale in one year 

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday announced that a total export crude oil and gas receipt for the period of June 2016 to June 2017 stood at $2.52billion. It said that out of it, the sum of $ 2.16 billion was transferred to the JV Cash Call in line with the budget and the balance of $0.36 billion was paid into the Federation Account.

    It explained that the low receipt was due to the effects of production disruption in Niger-Delta and low crude oil prices during the period.

    The corporation made this disclosure in its monthly financial report of June 2017 that it posted on its website yesterday.

    The report said that in the month of June this year, NNPC recorded a total export crude oil sale of $272.44 million, adding that the performance was almost the same like that of May.

    The report noted that “crude oil export sales contributed $175.46 million (or 64.40%) of the dollar transactions compared with $71.81million contribution in the previous month. Also the export gas sales amounted to $131.81 million in the month. The June 2016 to June 2017 crude oil and gas transactions indicate that crude oil and gas worth $2,829.67million was exported.”

    On dollar payments to the JV Cash Call and Federation Account, NNPC noted that the total export receipt of $219.34 million was recorded in June 2017 as receipt against $247.82 million in May 2017. Contribution from crude oil, according to the report, amounted to $133.79 million while gas and miscellaneous receipt stood at $78.83million and $6.71 million.

    It added that of the export receipts, $87.73 was remitted to the Federation Account, while $131.60 was remitted to fund the JV Cash Call for the month of June 2017 to guarantee current and future production.

    NNPC said that the domestic crude oil and gas receipt during the month amounted to N76.48billion, consisting of N2.55billion from domestic gas and the sum of N73.93billion from domestic crude oil. Out of the naira receipt, the sum of N56.97 billion was transferred to the Joint Venture Cash Call (JVCC) being a first line charge and to guarantee continuous flow of revenue stream to the Federation Account.

    Continuing, the report said that “on receipt from net domestic crude oil and gas, NNPC transferred the sum of N60.39 billion into the Federation Account and N90.58billion to the JV Cash Call for the month under review. From June 2016 to June 2017, Federation, JV and FG received the sum N756.22 billion, N706.12 billion and N63.30 billion respectively.”

     

  • How conmen dupe unsuspecting crude oil buyers, by NNPC

    How conmen dupe unsuspecting crude oil buyers, by NNPC

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has provided insight into the modus operandi of conmen, who dupe unsuspecting would-be crude oil buyers.

    This is coming a few days after raising concerns on the fraudulent activities of the scammers.

    NNPC’s Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division (COMD) Mr. Mele Kyari said the corporation “doesn’t sell crude oil from hotel rooms as done by scammers”.

    Kyari said they usually lured their unsuspecting victims with higher discount offers on cargoes, offers of non-OPEC crude specification, crude allocation, presentation of crude oil sale letters as well as conducting business from hotels.

    The corporation’s Group Managing Director, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, in a statement yesterday, quoted Kyari as saying that “some of them (scammers) even go to the extent of luring their victims to hotels to transact these fraudulent crude oil contracts”.

    “The entire public should know that NNPC doesn’t do business of crude oil marketing from hotel rooms,” the statement said.

    He reiterated that there was only one way of buying crude oil from the NNPC, which is through advertisement for the selection of customers who were screened for compliance with the corporation’s expectations and standards.

    “There are very high standards we have set and if you don’t meet them, you cannot be our customer. And once you become our customer, we sign a single annual contract with you,” Kyari added.

    He observed that the crude contracts were typically 30,000 to 32,000 bpd, which accumulated into a standard cargo size of 950,000bpd monthly and not two to three million bpd contracts as being peddled by the scammers.

    Kyari observed that for the crude oil sale processes to be completed, the customer had to show that he had the capability to sell the cargo to the market and that the corporation could get its money back.

    According to him, today, the entire process of crude oil marketing had become seamless and real-time with electronic platforms such as Platts and Argus acting as reporting agencies for global crude trading programmes.

    “The beauty of selling crude oil is that the moment we sell the crude oil cargo to you, the entire world know that cargo X is with Mr. Y. So, you see, you don’t have to scavenge for who buys your crude,” he said.

    He informed would-be buyers not to be gullible as the scammers always cashed in on would-be buyers gullibility to swindle them, adding that those who fall for the scammers were  either not in the business or were themselves fraudulent.

  • Nigeria hits 2.2m barrels per day

    Nigeria hits 2.2m barrels per day

    Nigeria’s crude oil production yesterday hit 2.2million barrels per day, according to the Group Managing Director (GMD), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru.
    He spoke at the 6th Sustainability in the Extractive Industries (SITEI) conference in Abuja. The theme of the conference was “Building Local for Global.”
    The target, he said, is to build up the country’s oil reserve to about 2.5mb/d and its subsidiary; the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), has already transformed from 15,000mb/d to 210,000mb/d.
    He said the corporation had identified seven critical gas projects in order to enhance power supply and stimulate industrial growth.
    The NNPC’s Chief Operating Officer, Oil and Power, Mr. Mohammed Saidu, who represented him attributed the increase in production to the peace in the Niger Delta.
    He said that the calmness in the Niger Delta and renewed efforts in the North East are indications that the corporation has renewed its strength for building oil reserves.
    Baru said: “Current production is building up, we are doing about 2.2 million barrels per day today, but of course, the intension is to build on that, sustain production and grow it up to about three million barrels per day in the next few years.”
    “We have to grow the reserves. We have had little or zero exploration for the past years, but thank God we are now renewing that. With the calmness in the Niger Delta and some of the efforts in the North-Eastern region, we have now renewed our vigor towards building the reserves.
    “And so in that way we have gone back to the Benue Trough and the Chad Basin. Although the Chad Basin is slightly behind, in the sense that we were about to go back when security challenges erupt, we are just waiting for the final green light for us to go back there.
    “Again all these are towards building the reserves, for is you build up the production to about 2.3 or 2.5 million barrels per day, you need the reserves to sustain that volume. The NPDC has grown production from a mere 15,000 barrels per day to about 210,000 barrels per day as at today.”
    Baru also stated that the corporation had reclaimed the three main pipelines that supply crude oil to the refineries and that the product lines had also been reclaimed.
    He added that “For the first time in the last five years we have been pumping products from Kaduna to Kano and this is in effort to reclaim the inland distribution and storage capacity that the NNPC has built over the years.”
  • Govt owes multinationals $10b in crude oil over-lift

    Govt owes multinationals $10b in crude oil over-lift

    • ‘Debt major investment disincentive’

    The Federal Government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is owing International Oil Companies (IOCs) about $10 billion in unpaid crude oil over-lift bills, The Nation has learnt.

    The huge debts build-up in the last few years, were as a result of  over-lifting of crude oil due to the government as royalty from the oil fields. It was learnt that the NNPC that superintends government’s interests in these oil acreages, often comes to these facilities with vessels to lift crude with a promise to reconcile the transactions with the operating companies, but in most cases, it never did.

    A source who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the oil majors in Nigeria have been battling this problem over the years, saying the worrisome aspect of the issue is that the crude oil being lifted comes from oil fields developed under the Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) arrangement.

    Under this arrangement, the oil firms bear the total risk of exploration and development. When the field begins production the oil firm, depending on agreed terms, pays royalty to the government with oil. The royalty oil is the quantum of oil allocated to the NNPC that will generate proceeds equal to the actual royalty payable each month and the concession rent payable each year.

    The source stated that in the PSC arrangement, government and operating companies committed to settling any issue that may arise through an arbitration panel where three lawyers would be present each representing the government or NNPC, the oil firm and, the remaining, an independent lawyer.

    He said the government always abandons the decision of the arbitration panel and goes to a local high court to get judgment in its favour. “This is bare-faced bullying. How can the government flagrantly disregard contractual agreements, send a vessel to lift oil without considering the operator of the asset. They (government) will ask you to go to arbitration and will refuse to abide by the judgment of the arbitration panel.

    “This attitude of the government is a major disincentive to investment in the oil and gas industry. Imagine where a company sources funds, takes the entire risk of exploration and if eventually oil is found, takes the entire risk of developing the field in challenging environments such as deepwater. This happens only in this country and I must let you know it is a major constraint to attracting global investible funds into this country.

    “We all know other existing challenges in operating in this environment such as militancy, joint venture funding issues and the current state of the global oil industry. We hope this administration will address this issue of crude over-lift, among other problems,” the source said.

    When The Nation contacted the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, for comments, he said the issue was channelled to the appropriate department of NNPC for response and the division said it is untrue. He said: “The appropriate unit said it is not true.”

  • Oil export proceeds reduce to $171.12m

    Oil export proceeds reduce to $171.12m

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Tuesday said that the total export proceeds of $ 171.12million were recorded in January 2017 as receipt against $175.04 million in December 2016.

    Its monthly financial report that made this known added that contribution from Crude oil amounted to $93.97 Million while Gas and miscellaneous receipt stood at $69.76 million and $7.39 million.

    The total export proceeds were remitted to fund the JV cash Call for the month of January 2017 to guarantee current and future production.

    According to the report, “total export crude Oil & Gas receipt for the period of January, 2016 to January 2017 stood at $2.57 billion. Out of which the sum of $ 2.50 billion was transferred to JV Cash Call in line with 2016 Approved Budget pending 2017 budget approval and the Exit of JV Cash Call and the balance of $0.073 billion was paid to Federation Account. However, this JVCC amount falls short of the 2016 Appropriated amount of $.8.55 billion. This is due to twin effect of production disruption in Niger-Delta and low Crude Oil prices during the year.”

    The Domestic Crude Oil and Gas receipt during the month amounted to N132.20 billion, consisting of N1.18Billion from Domestic Gas and the sum of N131.01 billion from Domestic Crude Oil.

    Out of the Naira receipt, the sum of N49.17 billion was transferred to Joint Venture Cash Call (JVCC) being a first line charge and to guarantee continuous flow of revenue stream to Federation Account.

    The report noted that NNPC transferred the sum of N81.84 billion into Federation Account during the month under review from the net domestic crude oil receipt and N1.18Billion from Gas receipts.

    It added that “Also, the 30th installment of the refund to FG of N6.33billion was transferred. From January 2016 to January 2017, Federation, JV, and FG received the sum N736.09billion, N404.35 billion and N82.30 billion respectively.”

    NNPC said that a total export sale of $202.16 million was recorded in January, 2017. This is $6.76 million higher than the preceding month’s performance. Crude oil export sales contributed $93.97million (or 46.48%) of the dollar transactions compared with $100.37 million contribution in the previous month.

    The corporation said that also the export Gas sales amounted to $108.20 million in the month. The January 2016 to January 2017 Crude Oil and Gas transactions indicate that Crude Oil & Gas worth $2,647.61 million was exported.

    According to the report, the Group operating revenue for the months of December 2016 and January 2017 were ₦206.40billion and ₦255.43billion respectively.

    It said that: “These represent 86.89% and 107.53% respectively of monthly budget. Similarly, operating expenditure for the same periods were ₦223.40billion and ₦269.68billion respectively, which also represents 106.54% and 128.61% of budget for the months respectively.

    “NNPC has been operating in a challenging environment which limits its aspiration to profitability. However, this 18th publication (January 2017) is structured to reflect the Corporation’s ongoing restructuring exercise for the implementation of Autonomous Business Unit and the new refineries business model.

    “Overall, a trading deficit of ₦14.26Billion was recorded for the month under review as against the reported December, 2016 trading deficit of ₦17.01billion. This represents about 16% improvement compared to previous month.

    “This marginal decrease in the deficit is largely attributed to the improved NPDC Revenue and combined Refineries efficiency as well as reduction in the upstream costs by over 32% relative to last month. Other factors that affected the overall NNPC’s performance include production shutdown of Qua Iboe & Agbami Terminals, TNP & NCTL as well as the subsisting Force Majeure declared by SPDC as a result of the vandalized 48-inch Forcados export line after the restoration on 17th October, 2016 amongst others.”