NNPC: Western Europe, Asian Countries Major Destinations for Nigeria’s Oil

By Chineme Okafor in Abuja

Demands for Nigeria’s crude oil blends have remained quite high from countries in Western Europe and Asia, a report of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed.

According to the July 2017 edition of the monthly financials and operations report of the NNPC which was released yesterday in Abuja by the corporation, Western European countries like the Netherlands, Spain, France, and Britain as well as India and Indonesia in the Asian and Far East have in the last one year, between May 2016 and May 2017, bought more of Nigeria’s crude oil.

An appendage to the main report stated that within the periods, about 240 million barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil were sold to countries in Western Europe 177 million barrels to Asian and Far East countries, 106 million barrels to African countries, 92 million barrels to North America, and 18 million barrels to South American countries.

It said South Africa, Ivory Coast  and Togo were the dominant importers from Africa with about 42 million barrels, 17 million barrels, and 12 million barrels imported respectively by them within the period.

Similarly, the report disclosed that within the month of July  this year, the corporation made loss of about N12 billion from its operations. It attributed the loss to the shutdown of its Kaduna and Warri refineries as well as the unavailability of some units at its Port Harcourt refinery. Operational difficulties at both the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) and Que Iboe and Bonga terminals were also linked to the July deficit.

“The 24th publication recorded a trading deficit of N11.87 billion which is an additional loss of N6.68 billion relative to the previous month’s deficit of N5.19 billion.

“The unimpressive performance of the downstream is mainly due to high crude oil inventory and the shutdowns of KRPC and WRPC during the period; also the unavailability of some of the major secondary units in PHRC in July 2017 accounted for the non-production of some light ends product with the corresponding increase in OPEX as a result of several maintenance interventions.

“Other drags to this month performance includes shut down of Trans Niger Pipeline and production shut-in to Que Iboe terminal and Bonga terminal,” the report said. 

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has disclosed that the NNPC has paid off about N80 billion freight bills owed them by the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF).

NARTO President, Kassim Ibrahim Bataiya, stated this when his association paid a courtesy visit on NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, in Abuja.

A statement from the Group General Manager, Public Affairs of NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, stated this.