Ike Amos
Abuja — The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed that it spent N43.306 billion, on behalf of the Federal Government, to subsidise Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, in January 2020.
According to the NNPC’s Monthly Financial and Operations Report for January 2020, the amount incurred by the NNPC as subsidy, otherwise called under-recovery, rose by 62.63 per cent from N26.629 billion recorded in December 2019.
The amount was also N3.5 billion less or an equivalent of 92.4 per cent of the N46.85 billion the NNPC remitted to the Federation Account in the month under review.
The NNPC explained that to ensure continuous increased PMS supply and effective distribution across the country, it supplied a total of 1.20 billion litres of PMS in January, translating to 38.68 million liters per day in the downstream sector.
The corporation noted that under recovery was deducted from proceeds from domestic crude oil sale.
It also added that it would continue to diligently monitor the daily stock of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to achieve smooth distribution of petroleum products and zero fuel queue across the country.
According to the NNPC, while the cost of crude oil allocated for domestic consumption stood at N184.5 billion, it received N133.995 as payments for crude oil in January 2020; from which under recovery of N43.306 billion was deducted.
In addition, the NNPC stated that N1.71 billion worth of petroleum products was stolen in the month under review; while N5.48 billion was spent on pipeline repairs and management.
Specifically, the NNPC explained that a total of 60 pipeline points were vandalized representing about 50 per cent increase from the 40 points vandalized in December 2019.
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It added that: “No pipeline failed to be welded nor ruptured. ATC-Mosimi and Mosimi-Ibadan axes accounted for 50 per cent and 17 per cent of the breaks respectively while all other routes accounted for the remaining 33 per cent.
“NNPC in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders continuously strive to reduce and eventually eliminate this menace.”
Furthermore, the NNPC said it earned N4.575 billion from gas and other receipts; while N91.717 billion was spent on Joint Venture Cost Recovery and government priority projects.
To this end, the NNPC declared a trading surplus of N1.87 billion in January 2020, dropping by 65 per cent from a trading surplus of N5.28 billion recorded in December 2019.
It said, “The 65 per cent decrease in the month arose due to 17 per cent drop in the cumulative performance of strategic business units (SBU) in the upstream and midstream as well as over 100 per cent deterioration in downstream activities.
“These weak positions along with deficits of the refineries, Ventures and CHQ, led to a decreased surplus to the group.”
