NNPC trading surplus hit N9.85 billion in September

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has reported 152.56 per cent appreciation in its trading surplus to N9.85 billion in September 2018, a figure which is higher than the previous month’s deficit of N3.90 billion.

The development, which is contained in the September 2018 edition of the NNPC monthly financial and operations report and indicated improved performance of N13.75 billion, relative to that of August 2018, is attributable to higher revenue by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the corporation’s upstream subsidiary.

NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, in the statement, said that NPDC’s production had been on the rise as a result of success recorded in repairs of vandalized pipeline in the Niger Delta and the resumption of crude oil lifting activities at the Forcados Terminal.

He said a total crude oil and gas export sale of $626.62 million was made in September 2018 under the NNPC’s United States dollar transactions which is 33.32 per cent higher than the previous month’s record. Crude oil export sales contributed $508.54 million, which is 81.16 per cent of the dollar transactions compared with $337.62million contribution in the previous month.

The statement announced that export gas sales amounted to $118.08 million in the month, adding that the September 2017 to September 2018 crude oil and gas transactions indicated that crude oil and gas worth $5.45 billion was exported.

In the downstream sector, the report noted that during the period, NNPC continued to ensure increased petrol supply and effective distribution across the country. During the month, 1.66 billion litres of petrol, translating to 55.50 million litres per day, were supplied by the corporation.
In the month under review, a total of 125 pipeline points were vandalized, out of which eight points failed to be welded and only one point was ruptured.

A further breakdown of the September 2018 records indicates that Aba-Enugu and Mosimi-Ibadan accounted for 36 points and 33 points or approximately 29 per cent or 26 per cent of the vandalized points.

While PHC-Aba and Zaria-Gusau accounted for 10 per cent each, Atlas Cove-Mosimi and other locations accounted for 14 per cent and 11 per cent of the pipeline breaks.

Regarding natural gas off-take, commercialisation and utilisation, the report indicates that out of the 238.91 Billion Cubic Feet (BCF) of gas supplied in September 2018, a total of 142.09 bcf was commercialised, comprising 30.36bcf and 111.73bcf for the domestic and export markets.

This translates to a total supply of 1,011.96mmscf/d of gas to the domestic market and 3,724.26mmscf/d of gas supplied to the export market for the month. It implies that 59.47 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialised while the balance of 40.53 per cent of gas was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.

The report gave gas flare rate for the month at 8.60 per cent, that is, 684.69mmscfd compared with average gas flare rate of 10.17 per cent which is 800.59mmscfd for September 2017 to September 2018.