Ike Amos
Abuja — The three refineries in the country — Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries — continue their woeful performance in the first quarter of 2020, as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) disclosed that the refineries recorded trading deficit of N29.27 billion between January and March 2020.
This was irrespective of the fact that the NNPC said the refineries had been shut for repairs since the beginning of the year.
In its Monthly Financial and Operations Report for March 2020, the NNPC disclosed that the trading deficit posted by the refineries in the first three months of 2020, was driven by N33.49 billion expenses incurred by the facilities, while they earned N4.22 billion.
Specifically, the NNPC disclosed that in January 2020, the three refineries processed no crude but utilized 1,603 metric tonnes (MT) of finished products; particularly by Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC).
It added that combined yield efficiency of the three refineries was 0.00 per cent owing largely to on-going rehabilitation works in the refineries.
In February 2020, the NNPC said the three refineries processed no crude and utilized no finished products, adding that combined yield efficiency was 0.00 per cent owing largely to the ongoing rehabilitation works in the refineries.
In March 2020, the NNPC stated that only Port Harcourt refineries processed 81,772 metric tonnes (MT) of crude oil with no finished products by any of the three refineries, adding that combined yield efficiency of the three refineries was -4.46 per cent (plant consumption) owing largely again, to the ongoing rehabilitation works in the refineries.
The moribund refineries also negatively impacted the NNPC’s financials in the period under review, as in January 2020, the NNPC announced a reduced trading surplus of N1.87 billion, compared with the N5.28 billion surplus posted in December 2019.
It noted that the 65 per cent decrease in the month arose due to 17 per cent drop in the cumulative performance of its strategic business units (SBU) in the upstream and midstream as well as over 100 per cent deterioration in downstream activities.
It said, “These weak positions along with deficits of the Refineries, Ventures and Corporate Headquarters (CHQ), led to a decreased surplus to the group.”
In March 2020, the NNPC announced a trading deficit of N9.53 billion, compared with the N3.95 billion surplus posted in February 2020.
It disclosed that the decline of over 300 per cent in the month was due primarily to the huge decrease of 181 per cent in NPDC’s performance which was caused by present decline in crude oil prices due to Coronavirus-related impact of reduced exports and dawdling world oil consumption; combined with deficits posted by the refineries and the CHQ.