The latest report from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has unveiled how the state behemoth performed in the first quarter of 2020.
First Trading deficit in over 12 months
A trading deficit of N9.53Billion was recorded in March 2020 compared to the N3.95Billion surplus posted in February 2020.
The decline of over 300percent in the month is due primarily to the huge decrease of 181percent in Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Ltd (NPDC’s) performance which was caused by the 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 NNPC’s corporate headquarters.
Dollar Payments to Federation Account lowest since December 2019
A total export sale of $256.19 million recorded in March 2020 was the lowest since December 2019 of $223million.
In march Crude oil export sales contributed $184.59 million (72.05percent) of the dollar transactions compared with $281.14 million contributions in the previous month; while the export Gas sales amounted to $71.60 million in March which is the lowest in 15 months.
Gas production lowest in 12 months
A total of 218.37 Billion Cubic Feet (BCF) of natural gas was produced in March 2020 translating to an average daily production of 7493.65 Million Standard Cubic Feet per Day (mmscfd), which is the lowest in 12 months.
Domestic gas to power still low
A total of 661 mmscfd was delivered to gas-fired power plants to generate an average power of about 3,064 MW in March 2020.
The abysmal generation of less than 4,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity hardly suffices for energy requirements as Nigerians still wallow in darkness, despite boasting of Africa’s largest gas reserves of around 202 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) and about 600 TCF unproven gas reserves.
FID for condensate refinery expected in July 2020
NNPC announced it has kicked off the first phase of establishing the first condensate refinery in the country with a firm commitment to take the Final Investment Decision (FID) on it in July 2020.
Lower remittance to federation account
NNPC remitted the sum of N147.15 billion to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in March 2020 which is lower than N148.5 billion recorded in the previous month.
Recall from March 2019 to March 2020, total NNPC remittances to FAAC is N1.6 trillion; out of which Federation and JV received the sum of N763.64 Billion and N916.03 Billion respectively.
Higher Export receipt
Export receipt of $362.18 million was recorded in March 2020 as against $282.32 million in February 2019 while the contribution from Crude oil amounted to $292.42 million however Gas and miscellaneous receipts stood at $65.60 million and $4.16 million respectively.
Of the export receipts, $141.14 million was remitted to the Federation Account while $221.04 million was remitted to fund the JV cost recovery for March 2020 to guarantee current and future production.
PPMC sold 1.6 billion litres of petrol
The lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja due to the coronavirus pandemic which kickoff on March 30 didn’t deter PPMC from selling and distributing 1,645.76 million litres of PMS, the highest since January of 1,199 million litres.
Pipeline vandalism still a major concern
Products theft and vandalism have continued to destroy value and put NNPC at disadvantaged competitive position as a total of 1,346 vandalized points has been recorded between March 2019 to March 2020.
Group Revenue falls
NNPC’s group revenue decreased by 3.5percent or N14.56Billion to N402.99Billion in March compared to last month. Similarly, expenditure for the month decreased but slightly by 0.3percent or N1.08Billion, at N412.51Billion.
