By Dipo Olowookere
A total of 1.352.86 billion litres of white products were sold and distributed across the country in October, 2017, by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The petroleum products were supplied by the NNPC through its downstream subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC).
Details of the transactions contained in the October 2017 edition of the Monthly NNPC Operations and Financial Report also indicated that 252.83 billion cubic feet of gas was supplied in the country within the period.
A breakdown of the volume of white products injected into the system shows that the 1.352.86 billion litres of products sold and distributed by PPMC within the period is slightly higher than the 1.282.61 billion litres for September 2017.
This comprised of 1.119.79 billion litres of petrol, 95.72 million litres of kerosene and 137.34 million litres of Diesel. Total sale of white products for the period October 2016 to October 2017 stood at 16.18 billion litres, petrol amounted to 14.11 billion litres and accounts for 87.22%. While total special products for October 2017 was 114.49 million litres, comprising of 63.82 million litres of Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) and other special products totaling 50.67 million litres.
The report also indicated that within the same period, 1.512.02 billion litres of petrol was supplied into the country through the Direct-Sale-Direct-Purchase (DSDP) arrangements as against the 886.46million litres supplied in September 2017.
It also noted that the petroleum products (petrol & kerosene only) production by the domestic refineries in October 2017 amounted to 204.31 million litres compared to 87.47 million litres in September 2017.
In terms of gas supply and production, the report which is the 27th in the series noted that out of the 252.83 BCF of gas supplied in October 2017, a total of 145.03 BCF of gas was commercialized, comprising of 35.41 BCF and 109.62 BCF for the domestic and export market respectively. This translates to an average daily supply of 1,142.15 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) to the domestic market and 3,536.11 mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market.
About 3,136.19 mmscfd or 88.69 per cent of the export gas was sent to Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) Bonny for October 2017 compared with the period (October 2016 to October 2017) average of 3,066.29 mmscfd or 91.90% of the export gas.
Also, out of the 1,142.15 mmscfd of gas supplied to the domestic market in October 2017, about 716.28 mmscfd of gas, representing 62.71 per cent was used for Gas-Fired power plants while the balance of 425.87 mmscfd or 37.29 per cent was supplied to other industries. This implies that 57.36 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialized while the balance of 42.64 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.
Gas flare rate was 9.59 percent within the period i.e. 781.77 mmscfd compared with average Gas flare rate of 10.03 percent i.e. 752.45 mmscfd for the period October 2016 to October 2017.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka