Connect with us

Business

Nigeria’s refineries process almost no oil in one year after incurring $367m in operating costs

Published

on

Nigerian refineries processed nearly no crude in 13 months, the latest data published by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) showed on Thursday.

Within that time, operating costs for the three main refineries in Africa’s biggest oil exporter, which the NNPC has shut down for revamp, came to $367 million.

“No white product (Premium Motor Spirit and Dual Purpose Kerosene) was produced in June 2020 and apparently for the past 12 consecutive months. The lack of production is due to ongoing rehabilitation works at the refineries,” the report said.

State-owned NNPC declared in April it had closed all its refineries as it ramps up efforts to obtain funding and a model to upgrade them, further saying the refineries located in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt would cease from government’s management once they are revived.

READ ALSO: Nigerian govt plans to shut down refineries for upgrade

The facilities have only worked intermittently for years owing to underinvestment and Nigeria confronts an onerous task of selling its oil overseas by reason of feeble demand from the pandemic outbreak and avalanche of oil supply in global markets.

The NNPC report observed that almost all of the country’s local fuel had come via a pact between Nigeria and a large handful of firms to swap the nation’s crude for fuels, dubbed Direct Sale, Direct-Purchase (DSDP).

Just below 40,000 megatons of crude was the only oil processed by Nigeria in the reporting period, the document added, translating to only 2 percent of the country’s refining capacity.

“The declining operational performance is attributable to ongoing revamping of the refineries which is expected to further enhance capacity utilization once completed,” the NNPC said.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now