NNPC trade surplus hits N15.04bn in January
Joseph Inokotong, Abuja
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said it posted 24 percent trade surplus of N15.04 billion in January 2019.
The corporation’s Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFPR) states that this is up from the N12.13 billion surpluses posted by the state oil company in December 2019, which was driven by increased oil and gas outputs.
According to the report, Nigeria’s gas output increased by 2 per cent at 245.83 billion cubic feet compared to a 240 billion output in December 2018, translating to an average production of 8,194.34 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd).
Also, the report showed that the state oil corporation’s recent trade surplus is driven by its upstream subsidiary, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), producing 332,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The NNPC failed to make profits for three years (2015 – 2017), turning a 2 percent profit margin in 2018.
In a statement by the Corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu “In terms of sales and remittance of crude oil and gas proceeds, the corporation announced total export receipts of $381.70 million in the month under review as against $345.68 million posted in December 2018.”
Ughamadu, while speaking on the gas output noted that “Out of the volume supplied in January 2019, a total of 151.50bcf of gas was commercialized, consisting of 38.03BCF and 113.47 BCF for the domestic and export market respectively.
The figure translates to a total supply of 1,226.83 mmscfd of Gas to the domestic market and 3,780.24 mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month.
“This implies that 61.73 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialized, while the balance of 38.27 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.”
For the month under review, Nigeria’s gas flare rate was put at 7.52 per cent translating to 610.07mmscfd compared with average gas flare rate of 9.76 per cent and 770.31 mmscfd for the period January 2018 to January 2019.
