•Fuel importation increases by 332.7m litres in four months
•Revenue declines by N123.85bn in March
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Peter Uzoho in Lagos
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday embarked on a major reshuffle of senior management positions in what it described as a move to strengthen and reposition the national oil company towards attaining global excellence and profitability.
This is just as it was also revealed yesterday that the NNPC increased its monthly imported petroleum products by 332. 7 million litres between December 2020 and March 2021, according to its latest data.
In a statement, the corporation announced the promotion and redeployment of some staff to fill key vacant positions, including Mr. Billy Okoye, who has now been appointed the new Group Executive Director, Ventures & Business Development.
The statement signed by the outgoing Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, of the corporation, Dr. Kennie Obateru, stated that Mrs. Aisha Ahmadu-Katagum, has been promoted to the position of Group Executive Director, Corporate Services.
It noted that until their new appointments, Okoye and Ahmadu-Katagum were Group General Managers, Crude Oil Marketing Division (COMD) and Supply Chain Management Division in the corporation, respectively.
In addition, a former Chief Operating Officer, Business and Ventures Development, Mr. Adeyemi Adetunji, is now the Group Executive Director, Downstream, while a former Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services, Mr. Mohammed Ahmed, becomes the Group Executive Director, Gas and Power.
Other chief operating officer positions in the corporation have now been re-designated as Group Executive Directors (GEDs), in alignment with the rules of Company & Allied Matters Act (CAMA), preparatory to the new status of the corporation as a limited liability company, post-Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the NNPC stated.
The repositioning also saw the disengagement of Mr. Yusuf Usman, formerly Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, while Mr. Garba Deen Muhammad, will take over from Obateru as the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the corporation.
Muhammad is likely to now exit the office of the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, where he was Special Adviser on Media before now.
Group Managing Director of the corporation, Mr. Mele Kyari, commenting on the new arrangement, said the appointments would enable the corporation live up to the expectations of Nigerians and achieve its vision of becoming a world-class energy company of choice.
NNPC’s Fuel Import Increases by 332.7m Litres in Four Months
Meanwhile, the NNPC increased its monthly imported petroleum products by 332. 7 million litres between December 2020 and March 2021, latest data from the national oil company has indicated.
NNPC’s Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR), released yesterday, showed that through the corporation’s total Direct-Sale Direct-Purchase (DSDP) arrangement, it brought in 1.582 billion litres in December, while in March the figure increased to 1.915 billion litres.
Under the DSDP arrangement, NNPC supplies nearly all of Nigeria’s petrol needs, in addition to covering some of the diesel and jet fuel consumption. In-between December 2020 and March 2021, the corporation imported 1.682 billion litres in January, and 1.716 billion litres in February.
Furthermore, in March 2021, NNPC’s operating revenue, compared to February 2021, decreased by 20.40 per cent or N123.85 billion to stand at N454.94 billion, while expenditure for the month decreased by 22.12 per cent or N119.24 billion to stand at N419.70 billion.
The data also presented a reduced trading surplus of N35.24 billion, compared to the N39.85 billion surplus recorded in February 2021, due mainly to low business activity at the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), one of the corporation’s subsidiaries.
Total export receipt of $194.55 million was recorded in March 2021, as against $115.34 million in February 2021, while proceeds from crude oil amounted to $98.37 million, and earnings from gas as well as miscellaneous receipts stood at $90.38 million and $5.80 million, respectively.
Of the export receipts, $85.79 million was remitted to the Federation Account while $108.76 million was remitted to fund the Joint Venture (JV) cost recovery for the month of March 2021 to, according to the corporation, guarantee current and future production.
Total export crude oil and gas receipt for the period March 2020 to March 2021 stood at $2.13 billion, out of which the sum of $1.27 billion was transferred to JV Cash Call as first line charge and the balance of $0.86Billion was paid into the Federation Account.
The NNPC data indicated that total export sale of $191.64 million was recorded in March 2021; increasing by 130.23 per cent when compared to the previous month, while crude oil export sales contributed $98.37 million, about 51.33 per cent of the dollar transactions, compared with $30.99 million contribution in the previous month.
Export gas sales amounted to $93.27 million in March 2021, while the March 2020 to March 2021 crude oil and gas transactions indicated that $1.80 billion worth of molecules was exported.
Of the month’s production, JVs and Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) contributed about 31.30 per cent and 40.40 per cent, respectively, while NPDC and independents accounted for 10.38 per cent and 8.62 per cent, respectively.
Moreover, the data showed that in February 2021, NNPC lifted 9,396,811 barrels of crude oil from the daily allocation for domestic utilisation. This translates to an average volume of 335,600 barrels of oil per day in terms of performance.
In order to meet domestic product supply requirement for February 2021, the entire 9,396,811 barrels were processed under the DSDP scheme, with no deliveries to the domestic refineries for processing.
In February 2021, a total of 45.36 million barrels of crude oil and condensate were produced, representing an average daily production of 1.62 million barrels.
The data also showed a steady decline in Nigeria’s total crude oil production from a high of over two million barrels per day, to a low of 1.4 million bpd between February 2020 and February 2021.
Of the entire national crude oil and condensates produced between February 2020 and February 2021, 213 million barrels were through JVs, 268 million barrels were through PSC, NPDC produced 67.5 million, while 52.6 million was pumped by independent marginal field owners.
