The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) stated on Wednesday that it spends $1.8 billion in 90 days to import fuel.
The Group Executive Director Upstream of NNPC, Mr Bello Rabiu, stated this while addressing State House Correspondents.
As stated by him, the organization spends between $16 million and $20 million on imports daily totaling about $1.8 billion per quarter.
Rabiu was reacting to the inability of the nation’s refineries to provide the local needs of consumers. He stated that the organization had to rely on importation to satisfy local consumption.
He stated that import bill depended on both volume and the price adding that a cargo of product, about 40 million litres, as at today costs about $13 million to $14 million dollars.
He stated that the country produced about 2.2 million barrels of crude per day but only about one million belonged to NNPC through 60 per cent equity in the Joint Venture.
“The average equity crude for sale is not up to one million barrels which means that the total amount of money we can get is about $40 million dollars”, he stated.
As stated by him, if half of the amount is used to import products, it leaves a lot of implications for the economy.
He stated that the organization also spent money to produce which reduced the accruals. “We spend about $30 million to produce.
“We try to maximize what is available” he said, adding that over 90 per cent of other imports were financed by the oil sector.
“That is why we stated we need to diversify, export more and import less”, he noted.
He stated that more countries now produced oil and that some producers that came out of crisis such as Libya had joined in the crude market.
He stated it was unfortunate that most of the oil producing countries were import- dependent.
He stated that for the local refineries the nation could not get more than 15 million to 20 million litres of PMS out of them but could produce enough kerosene and DPK (diesel) if they operated at 90 percent installation.
The Group Executive Director, Refinery, Mr Anibor Kragha, stated the operators were focused on increasing fuel supply to markets outside Lagos and Abuja.
On the pipelines, he stated most of them were on pressure testing to ensure safety before pumping through them.
He stated that the Enugu depot would take some time to be revived but added that Aba depot was ready to service the entire East.
He stated that between Aba and Enugu, a lot of pipelines were removed and taken away by vandals and needed to be replaced.
“We just have to work on that one and we can pipe from Aba to Enugu then to Makurdi and Yola.”
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