Nigeria Was Losing 1.75 Million Barrels Of Crude Oil Every Day In May, says NNPC |The Source

By Uche Mbah

Nigeria was losing 1.75 million barrels of Oil every day in May due to shut downs and production interruption, the Nigerian National Petroleum corporation, NNPC, said in a report.

This figure translates to a shortfall of 11.2%

Production fell due to disruptions as repairs were being carried out on TFP at Forcadoes while a complete  shut down at Brass Clough Creek (CCK) also had a serious impact on production.

“Production was also interrupted at Bonga, Egina, Okono, Akpo, Okwori, Agbami, Qua Iboe and Ima terminals due to pump issues, repairs, scheduled maintenance, loss of power, flare management and community issues,” the report said.

Nigeria had worked on a projected crude oil production of 1.8 mbpd within the framework of the 2020 revised budget, while the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had mandated its members and allies to slash output by 9.7 million barrels per day to shore up prices bruised by receding demand fall occasioned by the lockdown measures aimed at halting COVID 19 pandemic. Nigeria could not meet up with the OPEC quota, though its production report excluded condensates.

According to the report, Nigeria’s  three refineries “processed no crude and combined yield efficiency is 0.00 percent owing largely to on-going rehabilitation works in the Refineries.

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

Nigeria’s three refineries posted a deficit of ₦10.23 billion last May.  The crude oil processing plants are, however, still under repair while the National Gas production declined in June 2020 by 0.26 percent at 231.28BCF compared to May 2020 output. This is an average daily production of  7,709.38mmscfd.

“Likewise, the daily average natural gas supply to gas power plants decreased by 12.75 percent to 728mmscfd, equivalent to power generation of 2,717MW,” NNPC said.