*As NNPC debunks exporting 17.87m barrels of oil without documentation
By Motolani Osen
Following the approval of increase in oil supplies by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) by 150,000 barrels a day, Nigeria has effectively unlocked the entire gain as the nation’s oil output rose to 1.35 million barrel per day, representing the highest figure recorded in eight months.
This is even as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says it did not export 17.877 million barrels of crude oil without proper documentation from 2016 to 2020.
A recent survey has showed that the total group output was 29.14 million barrels a day amidst a rebound in Nigerian production raised OPEC’s oil output in December by 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared to November.
The increase in the output for December, by 150,000 bpd over November, due to the rebound in Nigerian oil production, although, despite the increase in oil production last month, OPEC was still pumping well below the collective target of the ten members bound by the OPEC+ pact.
In fact, the larger OPEC+ group moved to cut its collective production target by 2 million bpd in November—about 1.27 million bpd set to come from OPEC members.
The 10 producers in OPEC with production quotas saw their combined oil output at 780,000 bpd below the target for OPEC for December. The shortfall slightly decreased from 800,000 bpd below the OPEC quota for November.
In December, OPEC pumped 29 million bpd, up by 120,000 bpd month over month, mostly thanks to a recovery in Nigeria’s production from outages, per the Reuters survey. Nevertheless, Nigeria is the biggest laggard in the OPEC+ production quota, alongside other African OPEC members such as Angola.
In October, Nigerian authorities discovered an illegal underwater 2.5-mile connection from Nigeria’s Forcados export terminal. It had been operating undetected for around nine years, state-run oil company NNPC said at the time. While Nigeria has known of the land-based pipeline taps for decades, an underwater one was the first of its kind.
Meanwhile, a report, quoting the former auditor-general of the federation (AuGF), had accused some exporters of shipping crude oil without completing the required Nigeria export proceeds (NXP) forms.
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The AuGF was also said to have faulted NNPC Limited for appointing inspection agents in 2017, in flagrant disregard of a preceding directive by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Responding to the report in a statement on Thursday, Garba Deen Muhammad, NNPC’s spokesperson, said the claims were ‘malicious’.
Muhammad said the AuGF’s report mentioned 32 oil marketing companies involved in the non-completion of NXP forms.
He added that the issue did not affect repatriation of sales proceeds to the national oil company and subsequently, the federal accounts, for the period in question.
The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to an online publication, alleging that NNPC Limited exported 17.877 million barrels of crude oil without proper documentation in four years (2016 to 2020),.
“The auditor-general’s report in reference did mention 32 oil marketing companies involved in the non-completion of the NXP forms but that does not in any way mean that the proceeds from the sale of the said crude were not repatriated into the coffers of NNPC Limited and consequently into the federation accounts for federation related barrels.
“It should also be noted that NNPC Limited does not appoint inspection agents as alleged, but rather, it is the sole responsibility of the federal ministry of finance.
“Therefore, the general public is advised to disregard the said malicious publication, and instead, visit the relevant auditor-general’s website to see the full content of the audit report, and be guided accordingly.”
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