Ike Amos
Abuja — Nigeria loses N44 billion to pipeline vandalism and oil theft from January to May 2020, as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) stated that products theft and vandalism had continued to destroy value and put it at a disadvantaged competitive position.
The NNPC, in its May 2020 Monthly Financial and Operations Reports disclosed that it spent N35.74 billion on pipeline repairs and management in the five-month period, representing a decline of 36.43 per cent compared to the N56.22 billion spent on pipeline repairs and management from January to May 2020.
Giving a breakdown of pipeline repairs and management costs, the report stated that N5.48 billion, N6.74 billion, N7.69 billion, N7.84 billion and N7.99 billion were recorded in January, February, March, April and May 2020, respectively.
In addition, the NNPC also stated that N8.31 billion worth of petroleum products was stolen in the period under review, dropping by 30.8 per cent compared to N12.04 billion stolen between January and May 2019.
The report explained that petroleum products valued at N1.71 billion, N1.83 billion, N1.59 billion, N1.64 billion and N1.54 billion were lost in January, February, March, April and May 2020, respectively.
Furthermore, the NNPC disclosed that N118.61 billion was spent on pipeline repairs and management in 13 months, between May 2019 and May 2020; while N34.89 billion petroleum products were stolen in the same period.
It also noted that a total of 1,094 vandalized points were recorded between May 2019 and May 2020.
Furthermore, the country continued to incur losses from the operations of the refineries, as the NNPC revealed that combined, the three refineries — Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, KRPC; Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, WRPC; and Port Harcourt Refining Company, PHRC — recorded N48.5 billion trading deficit in the first five months of the year.
According to the NNPC report, KRPC recorded the heaviest deficit of N18.81 billion; followed by PHRC, with N15.69 billion deficit; while WRPC posted trading deficit of N14.012 billion.
Combined, the report stated that the three refineries had recorded revenue of N5.76 billion, expenses of N54.26 billion, to warrant the deficit of N48.5 billion.
The NNPC said, “The declining operational performance is attributable to ongoing revamping of the refineries which is expected to further enhance capacity utilization once completed. No white product, Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, and Dual Purpose Kerosene, DPK, was produced in May 2020 and apparently for the past eleven consecutive months. The lack of production is due to ongoing rehabilitation works at the refineries.
“In May 2020, the three refineries processed no crude and combined yield efficiency is 0.00 per cent owing largely to ongoing rehabilitation works in the refineries. The combined value of output by the three refineries (at Import Parity Price) for the month of May 2020 amounted to approximately N0.75 billion.
“No associated crude plus freight cost for the three refineries since there was no production but operational expenses amounted to N10.30 billion. This resulted to an operating deficit of N9.55 billion by the refineries.”