Ike Amos
26 November 2018, Sweetcrude, Abuja — After several months of profitability, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, slumped to a trading deficit of N3.90 billion in the month of August 2018.
The NNPC, in its August 2018 Monthly Financial and Operations Report, declared that this was against a trading surplus of N4.88 billion recorded in the month of July 2018.
Particularly, the NNPC declared revenue of N309.375 billion, sliding from N468.515 billion recorded in July 2018; its expenditure stood at N313.276 billion, compared to N463.631 billion in the previous months, while it recorded a trading deficit of N3.901 billion, compared to a trading surplus of N4.884 billion in the previous month.
According to the report, the drop in the NNPC’s performance, month-on-month, was mainly attributable to the drop in performance of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, owing largely to revenue decrease and higher expenditure level when compared to the previous month in July 2018.
Specifically, the report pointed out that NPDC’s revenue dipped by 11.59 percent to N79.957 billion in August, from N90.434 billion recorded in the month of July.
It added that NPDC’s expenditure stood at N72.529 billion, rising by 5.08 percent from N69.013 billion recorded in July; while it recorded trading surplus of N7.439 billion in August, dropping by 65.27 percent compared to a surplus of N21.422 billion recorded in July.
The NNPC’s unimpressive financials in August, according to the report, was also as a result of the continuous woeful performance of the country’s refineries.
Specifically, the report noted that the three refineries, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, and Warri refineries posted a combined trading deficit of N10.793 billion, compared to a deficit of N10.449 billion in July.
The report declared that the Kaduna Refinery posted a revenue of N2 million, compared to N306 million in July; expenditure of N2.685 billion, as against N2.656 billion in July and a trading deficit of N2.683 billion, compared to N2.35 billion in July.
Port Harcourt and Warri refineries recorded revenues of N6 million and N8.666 billion, expenditures of N4.469 billion and N12.314 billion and deficits of N4.463 billion and N3.648 billion respectively in the month of August, compared to July 2018 revenues of N19 million and N18.235 billion; expenditures of N3.336 billion and N18.235 billion and deficit of N3.318 billion and N4.781 billion respectively.
To guarantee its profitability in the years ahead, the report disclosed that the NNPC was set to establish two 200,000 barrels per day condensate refineries at Western Forcados and Assah North Ohaji South (ANOH) areas of Delta and Imo State respectively.
In addition, it said, “NNPC and Seplat have executed five agreements to expedite the development of a project aimed at delivering about 3.4 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day (BSCFPD) of gas by 2020.
“In a bid to consolidate its foothold on the shipping business in Nigeria and boost profitability, NNPC has unveiled plans to set up a subsidiary to provide refueling services to ships and other ocean-going vessels.
“As part of its refinery collocation initiative designed to boost local refining capacity and end the era of petroleum products importation, NNPC has hinted of plans to establish a 100,000 bpd brownfield refinery in both Port-Harcourt and Warri.”