Nigeria recorded a slight drop in distribution of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to 56 million litres per day in the month of April. This is despite ongoing efforts by the Federal Government to ensure continuous increase in supply of the product.
Reports say the supply drop stood at 3 per cent when compared to 57.49 million litres per day recorded in the previous month of March 2021.
This also coming on the heels of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, announcing a trading surplus of N43.57bn in April 2021 representing a 23.64 per cent increase over the N35.24bn surplus recorded in the previous month of March 2021.
Trading surplus or trading deficit is derived after deduction of the expenditure profile from the revenue for the period under review.
According to the corporation’s monthly Financial and Operation Report (MFOR) for the month of April, the rise in trading surplus was attributed to the activities of the Corporation’s Upstream subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), such as crude oil lifting from Oil Mining Lease, OML, 119 (Okono Okpoho) and OMLs 60, 61, 62, 63 (Nigerian Agip Oil Company), as well as an increase in gas sales.
Further details in the report indicated that, “The NNPC Group operating revenue in April 2021, as compared to March 2021, increased by 17.73 per cent or N80.67bn to stand at N535.61billion.
“In order to ensure uninterrupted supply and effective distribution of fuel across the country, a total of 1.67billion litres of petrol translating to 55.79mn litres/day were supplied in the month under review in the downstream sector. The Corporation has continued to diligently monitor the daily stock of petrol to achieve smooth distribution of petroleum products and zero fuel queue across the Nation.
“Also, in the Gas sector, a total of 209.27 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas was produced in the month under review, translating to an average daily production of 6,975.72million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd).
“For the period of April 2020 to April 2021, a total of 2,902.52bcf of gas was produced, representing an average daily production of 7,369.76mmscfd during the period.”
“Similarly, expenditure for the month increased by 17.24 per cent or N72.34billion to stand at N492.05billion, while expenditure as a proportion of revenue stood at 0.92, same as last month.
“The positive outlook was further consolidated by the robust gains of two other subsidiaries namely: Duke Oil and the National Engineering and Technical Company Limited (NETCO),” the report added.
The NNPC Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya, while commenting on the report noted that the sustained publication of the monthly report is in consonance with the letters and spirit of the Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) management philosophy of the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Malam Mele Kyari.
