The volume of petrol imported into Nigeria in May dropped drastically by 72.65%, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said. This is not surprising given the general battery suffered by the economy as a result of Corona Virus.
The latest data from the NNPC showed that while the volume of fuel imported into the country through the Direct Sale Direct Purchase scheme stood at 2.25 billion litres in March this year, the volume fell to 1.81 billion litres in April and 495.10 million litres in May.
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 NNPC has been the sole importer of petrol into the country since the last two years after private oil marketers were stopped from importing fuel in 2007. The average daily supply of the product stood at 15.97 million litres in May, down from 60.43 million litres in April and 72.59 million litres in March, according to the NNPC report.
Despite promises made by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to rehabilitate Nigeria’s four major refineries, the country has continued to rely on petrol importation for energy. The refineries, 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.
“No white product (PMS and Dual Purpose Kerosene) was produced in May 2020 and apparently for the past eleven consecutive months. The lack of production is due to ongoing rehabilitation works at the refineries,” the NNPC said in the report.
“A total of 950.67 million litres of white products were sold and distributed by PPMC in the month of May 2020 compared with 990.17 million litres in the month of April 2020. This comprised 950.67 million litres of PMS only with no Automotive Gas Oil or DPK.
“Also, there was no sale of special product in the month. Total sale of white products for the period of May 2019 to May 2020 stood at 19.87 billion litres and PMS accounted for 19.70 billion litres or 99.19%,” the report further stated.
The NNPC said a total sum of N92.58bn was made on the sale of white products by the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) in May, compared to N107.61bn sales in April.
A subsidiary of the NNPC, the PPMC is principally engaged in the supply and marketing of refined petroleum products to the marketers/retailers.
By Chibisi Ohakah, Abuja
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