By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced that its downstream subsidiary, Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), recorded a 39 percent month-on-month increase in the sale of white products in February 2020.
The PPMC is in charge of bulk sales and distribution of petroleum products.
According to the state-owned oil’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr Kennie Obateru, the sum of to N211.6 billion was made from the transaction, significantly higher than N151.8 billion recorded in the previous month.
In the February 2020 NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report (55th MFOR), it was stated that total revenues recorded from the sales of white products for the period February 2019 to February 2020 stood at about N2.6 trillion, with premium motor spirit (PMS) or petrol contributing about 98.1 percent of the total sales value of about N2.5 trillion.
The report stated further that about 1.7 billion litres of white products were sold and distributed by PPMC in the month of February 2020 compared with about 1.2 billion litres sold in January 2020.
This comprised 1.7 billion litres of PMS and 1.09 million litres of automative gas oil (AGO) commonly called diesel. Also, there was the sale of 0.01 million litres of special product, Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) in the month.
Total sale and distribution of white products for the period February 2019 to February 2020 stood at about 21 billion litres) and PMS accounted for 20.8 billion litres or 98.7 percent.
During the period under review, a total of 32 pipeline-points malfunctioned or were vandalized, representing about 47 percent decrease from the 60 points recorded in January 2020. These comprised 22 pipeline breaches, eight-weld failures and two pipeline ruptures.
Mosimi area accounted for 78 percent of total cases, the Port Harcourt axis 16 percent and all other routes accounted for the remaining 6 percent.
In respect of natural gas off-take, commercialization and utilization, out of the 241.7 billion Cubic Feet (BCF) of gas supplied in February 2020, 146.5 BCF was commercialized, consisting of 35.8 BCF and 110.7 BCF for the domestic and export market respectively, translating to a total supply of 1,235.6 million Standard Cubic Feet per day (mmscfd) of gas to the domestic market and 3,817.4 mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month.
During the period, the report said 699 mmscfd was delivered to gas-fired power plants to generate an average power of about 3,064 MW, compared with January 2020 when an average of 640 mmscfd was supplied to generate 2,683 MW.
The 55th edition of the MFOR indicates an increased trading surplus of N3.9 billion compared with the N1.9 billion surplus posted in January 2020. This represents a 111 percent growth in the month, the report stated.
According to the NNPC, this was due to improved performance of the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), as a result of its low expenses put at over 100 percent.
Other reasons cited for the increased trading surplus were the reduced deficits post by the downstream units, refineries, as well as the NNPC corporate headquarters.
Dipo Olowookere