By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced an increase of 184 per cent in the total crude oil and gas export receipt, amounting to $378.4 million in June 2020 as against $133.2 million it posted in May 2020.
This signalled an improvement in revenue earnings apparently following the ease of the COVID-19 pandemic global lockdown and the subsequent increased demand and firmer prices for the black gold in the international market.
The NNPC in a release by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr Kennie Obateru, stated that petroleum receipts for the month reflected crude oil earnings of $230.7 million, with gas and miscellaneous proceeds standing at $75.9 million and $71.8 million, respectively.
The release explained that details of the earnings were contained in the June 2020 Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR) of NNPC, which it noted, was the 59th in the series.
The report, which was released in Abuja on Sunday, put total crude oil & gas export receipts for the period: June 2019 to June 2020 at $4.6 billion.
In the downstream sector, the NNPC monthly report said in order to ensure a continuous supply and effective distribution of petroleum products across the country in June 2020, 1.3 billion litres of white products were distributed and sold by NNPC’s Downstream subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC).
According to the national oil company, the figure was significantly higher than the 950.7 million litres of white products sold and distributed in May 2020, reflecting an advantage following the gradual ease of the lockdown in the country and the picking up of business activities.
A breakdown of the June 2020 figures indicated that over 1.3 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), 5.1 million litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and 1.7 million litres of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) were sold and distributed during the period.
White products sale for the period June 2019 to June 2020, the report disclosed, stood at over 19.1 billion litres, with PMS accounting for over 18.9 billion litres or 99.4 per cent.
In monetary value terms, the above volumes translated to a total sale of N134.2 billion of white products by PPMC in June 2020, compared to N92.6 billion sales in May 2020.
Total revenues recorded from the sales of white products for the period June 2019 to June 2020 stood at over N2.7 trillion, where PMS contributed about 99.1 per cent of the total sales with a value of over N2.2 trillion.
During the month under review, 33 pipeline points were vandalized representing about 11 per cent decrease from the 37 points recorded in May 2020.
Mosimi-Ibadan accounted for 33 per cent, while Atlas Cove-Mosimi and Warri-River Niger recorded 27 per cent of the breaks each; other locations made up for the remaining 13 per cent.
The NNPC monthly Financial and Operations Report for June 2020 explained that in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders, the corporation would continuously strive to rein in on the incidences of pipeline breaches across the Country.
In the Gas sector, out of the 232.0 Billion Cubic Feet of gas (BCF) supplied in June 2020, 148.7 BCF of gas was commercialized; consisting of 34.6 BCF and 114.0 BCF for the domestic and export market, respectively.
This, the report explains, translates to a total supply of 1,154.8 million Standard Cubic Feet of gas per day (mmscfd) to the domestic market and 3,800.5 mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month, implying 64.1 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialized, while the balance of 35.9 per cent was re-injected, used as Upstream fuel gas or flared.
The NNPC report stated that gas flare rate for June 2020 stood at 6.1 per cent, that is: 472.9 mmscfd, compared with average Gas flare rate of 7.8 per cent, an equivalent of 611.7 mmscfd for the period June 2019 to June 2020.