Economy
NNPC December 2020 Trading Surplus Rises 80.1%
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced an increase of 80.1 per cent in trading surplus for the month of December 2020.
In the December 2020 edition of the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR), the agency said it recorded a trading surplus of N24.2 billion in the period under review compared with the N13.4 billion achieved in November 2020.
Business Post reports that a trading surplus or trading deficit is derived after deduction of the expenditure profile from the revenue in the period under review.
In a press release issued by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mr Kennie Obateru, it was stated that the operating revenue in December 2020 was N546.7 billion in contrast to N409.7 billion recorded in November 2020, indicating an increase by 33.4 per cent or N137 billion.
In the 65th edition of the NNPC MFOR, which highlights the corporation’s activities for the period of December 2019 to December 2020, it was noted that the expenditure for the month increased by 27.5 per cent or N112.8 billion to N522.5 billion from N409.7 billion, with the December 2020 expenditure as a proportion of revenue at 0.96 as against 0.97 in November 2020.
The report indicated that the 80.1 per cent increase was mainly due to the significant rise in the profit of NNPC’s flagship upstream entity, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), amid improved market fundamentals and strong global demand for crude oil.
Other contributory factors to the robust trading surplus recorded in the month under review included the improved performance by the Nigerian Gas Marketing Company (NGMC), the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), the National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO) and Duke Oil Incorporated which recorded noticeable gains in their operations.
In the downstream, 2.26 billion litres of white products were sold and distributed by PPMC in the month of December 2020 compared to 1.72 billion litres in the month of November 2020.
This comprised 2.25 billion litres of petrol, translating to 72.7 million litres/day, 11.40 million litres of Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) and 0.48 million litres of kerosene.
Total sale of white products for the period of December 2019 to December 2020 stood at 18.5 billion litres and petrol accounted for 18.3 billion litres or 99.3 per cent.
In monetary terms, the volume translates to a value of N288.8 billion recorded on the sale of white products by PPMC in the month of December 2020 compared to N226.1 billion sales in November 2020.
Total revenues generated from the sales of white products for the period December 2019 to December 2020 stood at N2.2 trillion, where petrol contributed about 99.1 per cent of the total sales with a value of N2.2 trillion.
In December 2020, a total of 43 pipeline points were vandalized representing about an 18.6 per cent increase from the 35 points recorded in November 2020.
Mosimi Area accounted for 56 per cent of the vandalized points while Kaduna Area and Port Harcourt accounted for the remaining 33 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.
In the gas sector, natural gas production in December 2020 stood at 213.34 billion cubic feet (BCF) translating to an average daily production of 6,881.83 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd).
The daily average natural gas supply to power plants increased by 3.5 per cent to 816 mmscfd, equivalent to power generation of 3,445 Megawatts (MW).
Out of the 208.6 BCF of gas supplied in December 2020, a total of 146.7 BCF was commercialised; consisting of 42.9 BCF and 103.8 BCF for the domestic and export market respectively.
This translates to a total supply of 1,383.9 mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 3,349 mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month.
This implies that 70.3 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialized while the balance of 29.7 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.
The gas flare rate was 6.8 per cent for the month under review (i.e. 457.25 mmscfd) compared to the average gas flare rate of 7.2 per cent (i.e. 538.59 mmscfd) for the period December 2019 to December 2020.
By Adedapo Adesanya
NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange remained in the negative territory after it further depreciated by 0.64 per cent on Friday, July 24, despite recording four price gainers.
The NASD Security Index (NSI) dropped 27.4 points at the close of business to settle at 4,294.75 points versus the previous day’s 4,383.48 points, while the market capitalisation gave up N16.49 billion to end at N2.577 trillion, in contrast to the N2.594 trillion it ended a day earlier.
The bourse was down during the session amid heavy sell-offs, with the volume of transactions skyrocketing by 693.9 per cent to 2.99 million units from Thursday’s 377,635 units.
Equally, the value of trades went up by 71.6 per cent to N69.4 million from N40.4 million, and the number of deals increased by 41.0 per cent to 55 deals from the preceding day’s 39 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 75.6 million units traded for N5.4 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
The market ended the session with four price gainers and two price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which lost N7.44 to trade at N136.19 per share compared with the previous day’s N143.63 per share, and CSCS Plc, which declined by N1.64 to N93.63 per unit from N95.27 per unit.
But MRS Oil gained N13.50 to sell at N148.50 per share versus N135.00 per share, Afriland Properties Plc advanced by 56 Kobo to N17.41 per unit from N16.85 per unit, UBN Property Plc surged by 18 Kobo to N1.93 per share from N1.75 per share, and Food Concepts Plc climbed by 1 Kobo to N2.50 per unit from N2.49 per unit.
By Dipo Olowookere
Nigeria’s stock exchange succumbed to profit-taking on Friday, losing 0.19 per cent when the closing gong was hit at 4 pm.
Shares in the banking and energy sectors influenced the decline suffered by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited during the session, as they respectively closed lower by 0.40 per cent and 0.04 per cent.
The industrial goods index was flat yesterday, while the insurance counter gained 0.68 per cent and the consumer goods space chalked up 0.25 per cent. The gains by these two segments could not keep Customs Street in the green territory at the close of business.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 474.00 points to 247,357.40 points from 247,831.40 points, and the market capitalisation decreased by N306 billion to N159.588 trillion from N159.894 trillion.
Presco dropped 10.00 per cent during the trading day to close at N2,070.00, Thomas Wyatt crumbled by 9.93 per cent to N3.63, Trans-Nationwide Express plunged by 8.44 per cent to N2.82, Royal Exchange slipped by 7.86 per cent to N1.29, and LivingTrust Mortgage Bank shrank by 7.32 per cent to N3.80.
On the flip side, C&I Leasing improved by 9.48 per cent to N6.35, Cornerstone Insurance rose by 9.09 per cent to N6.00, RT Briscoe jumped by 8.61 per cent to N13.25, Honeywell Flour expanded by 7.38 per cent to N17.45, and Africa Prudential increased by 6.98 per cent to N13.80.
Despite the poor performance, the local bourse recorded a positive market breadth index after finishing with 35 price gainers and 25 price losers, representing strong investor sentiment.
It was a relatively quiet market on Friday, as the activity level dropped, with the trading volume down by 27.72 per cent to 565.5 million units from 782.4 million units, and the trading value contracted by 46.89 per cent to N29.9 billion from N56.3 billion, while the number of deals executed by investors soared by 16.03 per cent to 53,688 deals from 46,273 deals.
Access Holdings was the busiest stock for the session, with a turnover of 128.0 million units sold for N3.8 billion, First Holdco transacted 35.4 million units worth N4.3 billion, Chams exchanged 34.8 million units valued at N154.3 million, Zenith Bank traded 30.4 million units for N3.9 billion, and UBA sold 30.4 million units worth N1.5 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira marked a whole week of appreciation against the United States Dollar on Friday, July 24, further gaining N5.67 or 0.41 per cent to close at N1,362.09/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) compared with N1,367.76/$1 it ended on Thursday.
Equally, the local currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N10.83 to trade at N1,813.62/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,824.45/£1, and improved against the Euro by N7.68 to settle at N1,549.10/€1, in contrast to the N1,556.78/€1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
However, at the parallel market and GTBank forex counter, the Nigerian currency remained unchanged against the greenback during the session at N1,400/$1 and N1,379/$1, respectively.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) buffer has been strengthened with sustained foreign portfolio inflows and robust foreign reserves, which stand above $52 billion.
The apex bank’s policy signals that the Naira will be stronger in the near term, with Nigeria clearing hurdles with FX reforms and settlement of all backlogs.
However, some traders expect that pressure may come due to foreign-currency buying from fuel importers as they make Dollar purchases to build inventories.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC), in the digital currency landscape, trimmed recent gains as it fell by 2.3 per cent to $63,787.73.
The weak action in the AI momentum trade is feeding through to crypto as well.
Further, Cardano (ADA) dropped 3.7 per cent to close at $0.1615, Solana (SOL) dipped by 2.8 per cent to $73.71, Ripple (XRP) crashed by 2.3 per cent to $1.08, Ethereum (ETH) slid by 1.9 per cent to $1,851.58, Dogecoin (DOGE) retreated by 0.8 per cent to $0.0694, Binance Coin (BNB) contracted by 0.7 per cent to $564.18, and TRON (TRX) lost 0.5 per cent to trade at $0.3292, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
