Refineries lost N111bn in nine months, says NNPC

’ Femi Asu
The three refineries owned by the Federal
Government lost a total of N111 . 27 bn from
January to September this year , the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation said in its
September report.
The refineries posted a loss of N96 . 31 bn in the
same period in 2018 , according to the NNPC
data obtained by our correspondent on
Monday.
Nigeria , Africa ’ s top oil producer , relies largely
on importation for refined petroleum products
as its refineries have remained in a state of
disrepair for many years despite several
reported repairs .
The refineries, which are located in Port
Harcourt , Kaduna and Warri , have a combined
installed capacity of 445, 000 barrels per day
but have continued to operate far below the
installed capacity .
They lost N8 . 362 bn in January ; N10 . 26 bn in
February ; N16 . 04 bn in March ; N11 . 44 bn in
April ; N13 . 63 bn in May, and N17 . 42 bn in June .
The plants recorded a loss of N13 . 84 bn in July ;
N13 . 21 bn in August and N7 . 07 bn in September .
Kaduna refinery, which did not process any
crude in eight months , lost N44 . 06 bn , according
to the NNPC .
Warri lost N33 . 88 bn as it did not process any
crude oil in April , June , July , August and
September .
Port Harcourt refinery posted a loss of
N33 . 31 bn as it was idle in January, April , May
and June , July , August and September .
“ Similar to August 2019 , no white product
( petrol and kerosene ) was produced in
September 2019 . The lack of production is due
to ongoing rehabilitation works at the
refineries, ” the corporation said .
The NNPC said it had been adopting a merchant
plant refineries business model since January
2017 .
It said the combined value of output by the
three refineries (at import parity price ) for
September amounted to N1 . 03 bn.
The national oil firm said , “ No associated crude
plus freight cost for the three refineries since
there was no production while operational
expenses amounted to N11 . 24 bn.