…Says 55 pipeline vandalism cases recorded in May

From Uche Usim, Abuja and Adewale Sanyaolu

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has recorded a revenue drop of N14.32 billion in its group operating revenue for the month of May 2017, representing a 4.4 per cent decrease against its April revenue.

This is even as the corporation said it recorded only 55 incidents of pipeline vandalism in May 2017 as against 82 reported cases the previous month.

NNPC in its latest Financial and Operations Report for the month of May released in Abuja yesterday, indicated that the group’s operating revenue for April was N322.19 billion while the May revenue stood at N307.87 billion.

The corporation disclosed that the April and May revenue figures represent 87.62 per cent and 83.72 per cent respectively of monthly budget, adding that operating expenditure for the same periods were N327.47 billion and N311.42 billion respectively, which also represents 103.09 per cent and 98.04 per cent of budget for the months respectively.

On the other hand, it said the May financial statement recorded remarkable improvement in group performance, despite challenging operating business environment, which limits profitability, stating that the  May 2017 report indicated a trading deficit of N3.55 billion representing 32.65 per cent decrease in deficit compared to the previous month’s deficit of N5.27 billion.

NNPC said the improvement is mainly attributed to enhanced crude oil evacuation and oil lifting in May 2017 at Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation (NPDC), following re-opening of Forcados Oil Terminal (FOT) on March 31, 2017.

“The terminal had been shut down since February 21, 2016 following force majeure declared by Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC) as a result of the vandalised Forcados export line.

Other contributors to this month’s performance are PHRC and NGPTC; both SBUs recorded significant revenue increase.”

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Another highpoint of the May report is the decline in the incidents of oil pipeline breaks, which had, in recent time, witnessed a steady reduction through the months following the sustained community/stakeholders’ engagement initiative.

It further said that the number of pipeline breaks recorded within the period stood at 55, which was an improvement compared to 82 vandalised points recorded in April 2017. This figure represents about 33 per cent reduction relative to the previous months and also a remarkable improvement to corresponding period of May 2016 which recorded 260 cases.

During the period under review, the reports informed that NNPC stepped up efforts to actualise government’s initiative on co-location of some refineries.

It also said the average national daily gas supply to the nation’s power plants has risen by 64 per cent, adding that the average natural gas supply to power plants of 729 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) in May 2017 was 63.74 per cent higher than the daily gas supply to the plants, of 446mmscfd, during the same month in 2016.

The report further said the average national daily gas production for May 2017 stood at 242.70 billion cubic feet (bcf) or an average of 7,829.11mmscfd, representing a slight increase, compared with April gas production of 672mmscfd.

It also stated that NNPC, within the period under review, activated plans to build 500 million standard cubic feet of gas-per-day metering plant to serve the planned capacity expansion of Egbin Power Plant.

According to the report, the three refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna were operational in May 2017, with a minimum of 6m litres of petrol and a similar quantity of diesel, loaded out from the refineries daily.

The three NNPC refineries have a combined nameplate capacity of 445,000 barrels of crude oil per stream day. The report indicated that the rehabilitation of the refineries would restore their nameplate capacities.

Diesel price, the report also noted, witnessed a nationwide crash by as much as 42 per cent following strategic intervention by the corporation to sustain supply of diesel and avoid the first quarter, 2017 unpleasant experience when retail price of AGO shot to an all-time high of N300 per litre. The intervention pushed the product’s retail prices as at May 2017 to rally between N175 and N200 across the country.

Another highpoint of the May report is that there was a decline in the incidents of oil pipeline breaks which had, in recent time, witnessed a steady reduction through the months following the sustained community/stakeholders’ engagement initiative.