Crude Oil: Shell, Chevron, Mobil, E&P Cough Up N322.45bn Into National Coffers In April

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is to remit N322.45bn crude oil proceeds garnered from four international oil companies to the Federation Account this month (April).

The NNPC disclosed this to members of the Federation Account Allocation Committee in its presentation at the last FAAC meeting of March 22, 2022.

The presentation was obtained by our correspondent from the oil firm in Abuja on Friday.

It said the N322.45bn was for January 2022 domestic crude oil payable in April 2022 by the NNPC, adding that this was in line with the NNPC’s 90 days payment term.

In its presentation to FAAC, the company outlined the four international oil firms, which it described as joint-venture partners of the NNPC, to include Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mobil Producing Nigeria, Shell Petroleum Development Company, and First Exploration and Production.

It said N68.1bn for 1.88 million barrels of crude would come from Chevron, while N65.6bn for 1.899 million barrels would be paid by Mobil.

The NNPC report further indicated that Shell would remit N163.24bn for 4.696 million barrels of crude, while N25.52bn for 682.45 million barrels of oil would come from First E&P.

The report stated the overall NNPC crude oil lifting of 9.94 million barrels (export and domestic crude) in January 2022 recorded 22.26 per cent increase relative to the 8.13 million barrels lifted in December 2021.

It said Nigeria recorded 1.39 million barrels per day of crude oil production in January 2022, according to data from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The national oil firm also stated that crude oil export revenue received in February 2022 amounted to $2.73m.

Officials of the firm, as well as IOCs and indigenous oil companies, had stated that despite the marginal rise in the amount of oil lifted by the NNPC in January, crude oil production in Nigeria had been on the decline.

This, they said, was due to the massive oil theft that had bedeviled the sector since January 2021 to date, though they noted that efforts were ongoing to address the issue.

On March 24, 2022, for instance, The PUNCH reported that the total value of Nigeria’s crude oil stolen between January 2021 and February 2022 was about $3.27bn (representing N1.361tn at the official exchange rate of N416.25 to the dollar), according to figures from the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

International oil companies and their counterparts in Nigeria also stated recently that the massive oil theft across the country posed a threat to not just their existence, but to the Nigerian economy.

But NNPC’s Group Managing Direction, Mele Kyari, had announced on Friday that measurable outcomes against the massive crude oil theft in the Niger Delta would be visible in three weeks’ time.

Kyari had said, “As we speak now there is a massive disruption to our operations as a result of the activities of vandals and criminals along our pipelines in the Niger Delta area.

“This has brought down our production to levels as low as we have never seen before. Today we are doing less than 1.5 million barrels per day simply because some criminals have decided that they should have some infractions on our pipelines.”

Nigeria’s oil production quota by OPEC has revolved around 1.8 million barrels per day. The country has repeatedly missed this target due to oil theft.

“And that clearly is the biggest form of business disruption that we are facing today,” the NNPC boss had stated.

He added, “This kind of engagement, the certifications that we have today around our systems and processes should be able to respond to this. And part of the response is to bring in the best framework possible to contain this situation.

“I’m happy to tell us that enormous work is going on between us and the Federal Government recognised security agencies, our partners, particularly those on the corridors that are impacted, and also the community members.

“And I’m very optimistic that within the next two to three weeks some very measurable outcomes will come so that our businesses will continue. As we speak now, the Nigerian Navy is launching a massive operation to contain oil theft in the Niger Delta.”

(Report, excluding headline; PUNCH)