At Average of $73pb, NNPC Loses 6m Oil Barrels to Shut-ins in June Worth $438m

At Average of $73pb, NNPC Loses 6m Oil Barrels to Shut-ins in June Worth $438m

Emmanuel Addeh

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) lost 6.035 million barrels of crude oil to emergency shutdowns in June, latest data released by the national oil company, has shown.

In its August presentation to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), which held between the 18th and 19th of this month, the corporation revealed that there were 32 of such incidents throughout its facilities in the country.

At an average of $73 which the product sold in June, that would be a whopping $438 million shortage posted for the month and roughly N219 billion at N500 exchange rate to the dollar.

Put side by side the NNPC’s contribution of N47.162 billion to the federation account in the month under consideration, the huge 6 million barrels worth over 200 billion, dwarfs the entire funds shared in the joint pool by the federal, state and local governments.

It is also roughly the same amount to be allocated to the host communities’ fund in the Petroleum Industry Act (ACT), if the law was to take effect in the beginning of this year.

A breakdown of the losses, according to the document indicated that the highest combined shortage of 1.62 million barrels was from Qua Iboe, with a breakdown of 200,000 barrels due to production shut-in arising from flare management and low well head pressure.

Still on Qua Iboe, a further 530,000 barrels were lost to shut-ins following tank top concerns, 650, 000 million barrels as a result of production cut-back as directed by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) as well as a loss of 240,000 barrels due to a gas leak on one of the assets.

This was followed by losses from the Forcados facility, which shed 200,000 barrels, 84,000 barrels, 30, 000 barrels and 80,000 barrels respectively on different days, with reasons ranging from leak repairs, tank top issues, a fire incident and declaration of a force majeure.

Forcados continued its shut-ins, shedding an additional 405,000 barrels of crude oil at the Uzere/Afisere/Kokori axis following a shutdown as a result of protests by community workers as well as a loss of 80, 000 barrels due to a fire incident.

Anyala Madu shed 105,000 barrels, Bonny suffered total shut-ins of 335,000 barrels, Ugo Ocha lost 30,000, Okono’s shutdown led to loss of 96,000 barrels, while Sea Eagle lost 750,000 barrels.

Usan shed 585,000 barrels in June, Brass lost 200,000 barrels, Erha lost 230,000 barrels and Yoho lost a cumulative 280,000 barrels during the month.

Agbami shed 630, 000 barrels during the month, Egina lost 70,000 barrels of crude, Pennington shed a total of 195, 000 barrels, while Ima posted a loss of 30,000 barrels in the month under review.

The June figure trumps that of May which was 4.1 million barrels and almost doubled that of March, which was 3.6 million barrels lost to the shutdowns and shut-ins for that my month.

These figures are however separate from the roughly 200,000 barrels of crude oil daily which the NNPC said Nigeria loses to theft and vandalism, another very big challenge for the industry.

With the price of $67.64 per barrel at the time NNPC Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, made the disclosure, Nigeria was losing N5.1 billion ($13.5 million) daily to the activities of the oil thieves an vandals.

“Though petroleum products theft on the system 2B pipeline has reduced considerably due to support from the security agencies, but the nation is still losing about 200,000 barrels of crude oil daily to theft and vandalism, ”he told Nigerians.

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