Nigeria makes N16tr from oil as IOCs, others owe N1.32tr

Nigeria, in the last 10 years, made about $39 billion (N16.1 trillion) revenue from oil and gas, even as 55 oil companies operating in the country failed to pay N1.32 trillion to the government in 2020.

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) disclosed this in Abuja, yesterday, during the launch of its 2020 oil and gas industry report.

It also said the country lost about 53 million barrels of crude to theft, noting that the commodity could have been sold for $2.2 billion.

Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, at the public presentation of the reports, said the country made $68 billion from oil and gas in 2011; $62 billion in 2012; $58 billion in 2013; $54 billion in 2014; $25 billion in 2015; $17 billion 2016; $21 billion in 2017; $33 billion in 2018; $34 billion in 2019 and $20 billion in 2020.

He noted that companies’ liabilities to the federation, as at December 31, 2020, was N1.32 trillion or $3.17 billion, compared to the N2.6 trillion owed in 2019. The number of defaulting companies also dropped from 77 in 2019 to 51 in 2020.

The nation’s earnings from the oil and gas sector in 2020 showed a 40 per cent reduction compared to the $34.22 billion realised from the sector in 2019.

On remittances to the Federation Account, the report disclosed that $14.65 billion, representing 71.17 per cent of the total earnings in 2020, was turned in.

The report also revealed that the total crude oil production in 2020 was 646.7 million barrels, representing a 12 per cent decrease when compared to the 735.24 million barrels produced in 2019.

According to the report, of the total production in 2020, 648.48 million barrels were lifted, and this was 11.85 per cent lower than the 735.66 million barrels lifted in 2019.

On domestic crude allocation and consumption, the report disclosed that 107.746 million barrels were managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited under the Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) arrangement.

The DSDP arrangement, which is currently responsible for fuel scarcity in the country, was $6.7 billion, while the value of refined products received for local consumption was $6.03 billion, indicating a variance of $134.78 million.

As regards fuel subsidy, the report further disclosed that N106.9 billion was paid as subsidy between January and June 2020 to sustain product availability with an outstanding balance of N26.74 billion yet to be paid.

NEITI also reported that 20.01 billion litres of petrol, 52 million litres of kerosene and 5.33 billion litres of diesel were imported into the country for domestic use during the period under review.

While the oil and gas sector contributed only 8.16 per cent to the total Gross Domestic Product in 2020, the gas sub-sector contributed over $1.5 billion to the federation account.

The report called for further investigations into circumstances surrounding the transfer of the federation’s stake in Oil Mining License (OML) 24, operated by Pan Ocean and New Cross Energy.