*The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation pledges to continue working in collaboration with local communities and other stakeholders to eliminate the menace of pipeline vandalism in the country

Alexander Davis | 绿帽献妻

In line with the Corporation鈥檚 commitment to transparency and accountability in the country鈥檚 economy, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced a 鈧�39.85billion trading surplus for February 2021.

The state oil firm stated this amount represents a massive 314.24 percent leap from the 鈧�9.62billion surplus it recorded January 2021.

Dr. Kennie Obateru, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC, in a statement Thursday, May 27 said the information is contained in the February 2021 edition of the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR).

The statement noted that trading surplus or trading deficit is derived after deduction of the expenditure profile from the revenue for the period under review.

Obateru stated that according to the report, in February 2021, NNPC Group operating revenue as compared to January 2021, increased by 35.64 percent or N 152.07billion to stand at N578.79billion.

Likewise, similarly, expenditure for the month increased by 29.21 percent or N121.83billion to stand at N538.94billion.

The expenditure for the month as a proportion of revenue was 0.93 percent as against 0.98 percent the previous month.

The significant increase in trading surplus is attributed mainly to reconciled accounts by the Corporation鈥檚 downstream subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), using the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) pricing template.

The NNPC said other factors that boosted the trading surplus figure, according to the Corporation, included the performance of Duke Oil, Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) and Nigerian Gas Marketing Company (NGMC) which recorded robust gains as a result of increased debt collection and cost optimisation measures.

Conversely, during the period under review, 54 pipeline points were vandalised representing 50 percent increase from the 27 points recorded in January 2021.

The Warri Area accounted for 50 percent and Mosimi Area accounted for 39 percent of the vandalised points while Kaduna and Port Harcourt Areas accounted for 7 percent and 4 percent respectively.

NNPC continues to work in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders to eliminate the menace of pipeline vandalism, stated the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC.

In the period under review, Obateru added, the Corporation supplied a total of 1.41billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) translating to 50.52m litres/day.

In terms of natural gas offtake, commercialisation and utilisation, out of the 206.05billion Cubic Feet (BCF) produced February 2021, a total of 133.06BCF was commercialised consisting of 40.15 BCF and 92.91 BCF for the domestic and export market respectively.

This translates into a total supply of 1,433.75million Standard Cubic Feet Per Day (mmscfd) of gas to the domestic market and 3,318.25mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month.

This implies that 64.48% of the average daily gas produced was commercialised while the balance of 35.52% was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.

Gas flare rate was 7.67% for the month under review (i.e. 565.52mmscfd) compared with average gas flare rate of 7.12% (i.e. 529.20mmscfd) for the period of February 2020 to February 2021.

The February 2021 NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report is the 67th in the series, and it is published in keeping with the Corporation鈥檚 commitment to transparency and accountability, the statement added.