The government-owned refineries in Nigeria recorded a total loss of N177.21bn in 19 straight months of not processing any barrel of crude oil.
This is according to the latest data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
An analysis of data collated from NNPC’s monthly reports revealed that all the refineries did not refine crude oil from July 2019 to January 2021.
Despite having a combined installed capacity of 445,000 barrels per day, the refineries, which are located in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri have continued to operate far below the installed capacity.
Nigeria relies largely on importation of refined petroleum products as its refineries have remained in a state of disrepair for many years despite several reported repairs.
In 2019, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited only processed crude in one month (June); Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited in two months (February and March); and Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited in four months (January, February, March and May).
The Kaduna refinery incurred an operating deficit of N64.84bn from July 2019 to January 2021, according to the NNPC data.
The Port Harcourt refinery lost N57.07bn in the period under review while the Warri refinery lost N55.30bn.
“The declining operational performance is attributable to ongoing revamping of the refineries, which is expected to further enhance capacity utilisation once completed,” the NNPC said in its latest monthly report.
January 2021 Supply
In January 2021, 1.68 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) were supplied into the country through the Direct Purchase Direct Sale arrangement as against the 1.58 billion litres of PMS supplied in the month of December 2020.
Under the DSDP scheme, selected overseas refiners, trading companies and indigenous companies are allocated crude supplies in exchange for the delivery of an equal value of petrol and other refined products to the NNPC.
The Federal Executive Council approved in March the plan by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt refinery with $1.5bn.