Oscarline Onwuemenyi 15 June 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has disclosed that it lost more than N19.43 billion in the month of April, as the country’s crude oil production dropped from 59.27 million barrels recorded in February to 57.43 million barrels in March, due to growing acts of pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta region.
The NNPC also said it paid N56.22 billion into the Federation Account in April this year.
The corporation stated this in its Monthly Financial Report released in Abuja where it also revealed that over 1,500 megawatts of electricity were lost as a result of the destruction of oil and gas facilities, adding that the capacity utilisation of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company plummeted from 25.65 percent in March to 6.36 percent in April.
“The NNPC’s monthly financial and operations report indicate an operational loss of 19.43bn in April 2016 as against 18.89bn in the month of March 2016. The deficit increased by 2.83 per cent in the month of April 2016 due to a slight decline in revenue generation, which is attributed to the decrease in petroleum product sales by 7.11 per cent.
“The NPDC’s crude sale for the month is still hampered by Forcados pipeline vandalism, which continued to deny the NPDC of monthly crude oil revenue of about 20.0bn,” the report stated.
The corporation explained that global crude oil spot prices increased by $3.41 per barrel in April to a monthly average of $40.75 per barrel, up from $37.34 in March and down from $57.54 in April 2015.
This represented an increase of 9.13 percent from March 2016 and -29.18 per cent from April 2015, adding that the increase in the crude oil spot prices by $3.41 per barrel in April this year to a monthly average of $40.75 per barrel was the highest monthly average so far this year.
According to the report, “Nigerian crude oil production for the month of March 2016 stood at 57.43 million barrels, which is 3.1 percent lower than February 2016 production, and so far, the lowest recorded in the 12-month review period. The recent upsurge in vandalism has negatively impacted on the Nigerian crude oil production output, losing its African top crude oil producer to Angola.