The operational loss of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation grew from N3.55bn in January 2016 to N24.23bn at the close of business in February same year, latest figures from the firm’s financial report have shown.
According to the NNPC’s seventh publication of its monthly financial and operations report, the huge deficit was due to production shut-in occasioned by vandalism of Forcados Export Line.
It stated that the situation denied Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, a subsidiary of the NNPC, the opportunity to earn revenue from crude oil sales of about N20bn.
The NNPC said, “Group operating revenue after subsidy for the months of January and February 2016 were N130.86bn and N104.80bn respectively. This represents 41.60 per cent and 33.32 per cent respectively of monthly budget.
“Similarly, operating expenditure for the same periods were N134.41bn and N129.03bn respectively, which also represents 49.73 per cent and 47.74 per cent of budget for the months respectively.
“Operating deficits of N3.55bn and N24.23bn were recorded for the months of January and February 2016 respectively as against monthly budgeted surplus of N44.23bn. The deficit increased in the month of February due to production shut-in as a result of vandalism of Forcados Export Line. This situation led to the loss of about N20bn from NPDC’s crude oil sales for the month.”
In its bid to curtail the perennial fuel scarcity plaguing the country, the NNPC said it was switching to the Direct-Sale-Direct-Purchase arrangement, instead of the problematic offshore processing and crude swap arrangement, to guarantee more product supply.
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