By Adedapo Adesanya
Declares N13.23bn Trading Surplus
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced a trading surplus of N13.23 billion in October 2019, representing an increase of 54 percent compared with N8.59 billion recorded in September 2019. This was disclosed in a statement signed by Mr Samson Makoji, the acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division.
It was noted that the figures were contained in the October 2019 edition of the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR) and that it showed continuous positive results recorded in the operations of the corporation.
The MFOR report noted that in September 2019 trading surplus of N8.59 billion was recorded, this indicated a significant increase of 65 percent compared with the N5.20 billion surplus posted in August 2019, higher than N4.26 billion surplus posted in July 2019, reflecting an increase of 22 percent.
The NNPC said the increase of 54 percent trading surplus in October 2019 accounts of the corporation was majorly due to improved trading surplus posted by activities of its flagship Upstream subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).
The MFOR further stated that total Crude Oil and Gas export sales was $483.25 million in October 2019, this indicates an increase of 35.77 percentage point, compared with the previous month, implying that in the month under review, Crude oil export sales contributed $396.94million (82.14 percent) of the dollar transactions, compared with $267.97 million contribution in the September, 2019, even as the export Gas sales for the month amounted to $86.32 million.
Overall, the October 2018 to October 2019 year-on-year Crude Oil and Gas transactions indicated that Crude Oil & Gas worth $5.49 billion was exported.
In the Downstream Sector, to ensure sustained Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) supply and effective distribution across the country, 1.16 billion litres of PMS, translating to 37.30 million liters per day were supplied for the month.
NNPC stated in the monthly report that it had continued to diligently monitor the daily stock of PMS, otherwise called petrol, in order to achieve smooth distribution of petroleum products and zero fuel queue nationwide.
The report said that in October 2019, 35 vandalized-pipeline points, representing a decrease of 81 per cent from the 186 vandalized-points in September 2019, were recorded.
Out of the vandalized points, eight failed to be welded, while only one pipeline was ruptured, with Ibadan-Ilorin axis accounting for 34 percent of the breaks, while ATC-Mosimi and other routes accounted for 23 per cent and 43 percent, respectively.
In the Gas Sector, out of the 235.82 billion Cubic Feet (BCF) of gas supplied in October 2019, a total of 134.97 BCF of gas was commercialized, consisting of 31.37 BCF and 103.60 BCF for the domestic and export market, respectively.
This translates to a total supply of 1,011.85 million Standard Cubic Feet (mmscfd) of gas to the domestic market and 3,341.84mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month, implying that during the month, 57.23 percent of the average daily gas produced was commercialised, while the balance of 42.77 percent was re-injected, used as Upstream fuel gas or flared.