Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has said that in 2017, a total of 264,938,662 barrels of crude oil were stopped from getting out of oil fields in the country into export terminals due to repeated pipeline vandalism and other production associated challenges.
In its oil and gas annual report obtained by THISDAY, the DPR equally explained that in 2017, except for Europe and Oceania, the percentage volume of Nigeria’s crude oil blends exported to north and south American countries, as well as to Asia and other African countries dropped.
The DPR noted that in 2017, Nigeria on the average deferred 725,859 barrels of oil every day (bd). It added that cumulatively the deferred figure for the year was 264,938,662 barrels.
For instance, it said in January of same year, about 34 million barrels (mb) was deferred, while 18mb and 27mb were deferred in February and March. In April, May, and June, it was 22mb, 19mb, 16mb respectively, while in July, August, September, October, November and December, it was 18mb, 19mb, 22mb, 23mb, 20mb, 21mb respectively.
According to the report, in 2016, the percentage of Nigeria’s oil export to Europe was 34.9 per cent, which subsequently rose in 2017 to 37.3 per cent.
However, countries in north and south America imported less of Nigeria’s oil in 2017 compared to 2016 with the figures for both years settling at 22.5 per cent in 2016 and 21.4 per cent in 2017. Importation by African countries also followed the same trajectory dropping from 14.6 per cent in 2016 to 12.5 per cent in 2017.
With regards to imported volumes for the period, it stated that European countries imported 245mb of oil from Nigeria, followed by Asia which imported 181mb. North America imported 119mb while African countries imported 82mb from Nigeria, and south America and Oceania imported 21mb and 6mb respectively.
It added that out of 41 licenses it granted to private investors to build refineries, 20 had expired, but did not disclose if they were renewed by their promoters.
With regards to the Domestic Gas Supply (DGS) obligation which the government imposed on oil producers in the country, the DPR said its performance in the year was 41 per cent, with 11 oil companies 1065.58 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mscfd) to key sectors such as power and industries in the country for the period under consideration.
