Nigeria Records Zero Earnings From Crude Gas Sales in Three Months

By Adedapo Adesanya

Despite the massive quantity of gas shipped out of the country, the large quantity consumed within the country and the huge revenue earned by gas companies, especially the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed that the country recorded zero earnings from crude gas sales in the first quarter of 2023.

According to the latest data released by the CBN, since 2021, the country has only received revenue from gas sales four times. That is in January, February, April and October 2021.

Specifically, the report revealed that between January 2021 and March 2023, a period of 27 months, the federation account received only N21.996 billion from gas sales.

On the other hand, the CBN noted that since the first day of September 2022, the federation account had recorded zero revenue from crude oil sales.

This is as Nigeria’s oil revenue rose by 69.8 per cent to N1.34 trillion in the first quarter of 2023, compared with earnings of N789.985 billion from the sector in the same period in 2022.

The CBN, in its first quarter of 2023 economic data, however, revealed that the amount earned from the oil and sector in the first quarter of 2023 was 3.04 per cent lower compared with earnings from the industry in the previous quarter, the fourth quarter of 2022.

The amount was earnings received into the federation account from crude oil and gas sales belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and its subsidiaries and other government agencies; royalties, rents, taxes, fees and penalties from oil and gas firms.

This sum, after various deductions, is shared among the federal government, the 36 state governments and the 774 local governments.

Given a breakdown of earnings from the sector in the first quarter of 2023, the CBN stated that in January 2023, N774.15 billion was earned from the oil and gas sector, while in February and March 2023, N308.07 billion and N258.9 billion were earned, respectively.

Furthermore, the CBN reported that the country recorded N533.107 billion, N1.33 billion and N791.591 billion from oil and gas royalties, rent and petroleum profit and gas tax, respectively.

In addition, the CBN stated that the country earned N2.202 billion from ‘miscellaneous, pipeline fees etc (other oil and gas revenue).

In comparison, in the first quarter of 2022, earnings from royalties, rent, petroleum profit and gas tax and miscellaneous, pipeline fees etc (other oil and gas revenue) stood at N343.88 billion, 2.382 billion, N267.060 billion and N3.749 billion, respectively.

In general, the CBN stated that gross federally collected revenue in the first quarter of 2023 stood at N3.018 trillion, with oil revenue accounting for 44.43 per cent of total revenue, while non-oil revenue, at N1.677 trillion, accounted for 55.56 per cent of total earnings.