No drop of petrol or kerosene was produced by any of the refineries
under the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation for
eight straight months.
Latest figures released by the NNPC on
refined white products (petrol and kerosene) from local refineries
showed that from June 2019 till January 2020, the facilities refined
none of the identified finished products.
It was further observed
that the last time the refineries produced Premium Motor Spirit,
otherwise called petrol, was in May last year.
The same scenario
also applied in the production of Dual Purpose Kerosene, often referred
to as kerosene, as the last time it was refined by the facilities was in
May 2019.
Refineries under the management of the NNPC are the
Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, Port Harcourt Refining
Company and Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company.
An analysis
of the figures should that in January, February and March 2019, the
refineries produced 45.5 million litres, 44.1 million litres and 44.1
million litres of petrol respectively.
Also, in the same first
three months of last year, they jointly produced 36 million litres, 36.1
million litres and 38.2 million litres of the DPK respectively.But in
April last year, their production of the PMS and the DPK crashed to
zero, meaning that they refined no white product in that month.
In May 2019, they produced 9.1 million litres of petrol and 4.9 million litres of kerosene.But
from June last year till January 2020, no drop of petrol or kerosene
was produced by the refineries, as they recorded zero all through the
eight-month period.
Explaining what prompted the
dormancy in terms of petroleum products refining, the NNPC said, “No
white product was produced in January 2020 and apparently for the past
seven consecutive months.“The lack of production is due to ongoing
rehabilitation works at the refineries.”
But stakeholders in
the oil sector faulted the never-ending rehabilitation of Nigeria’s
refineries and had called on the government to privatise the facilities.
Recently,
a consortium of about 15 civil society organisations asked the Federal
Government to privatise the refineriesAccording to the groups, this will
help the government as it currently struggles to manage the Nigerian
economy following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on crude oil price
globally.
CISLAC, BudgIT and 13 other organisations disclosed
this in a recommendation released after their meeting on developments in
Nigeria’s oil sector.
They said, “As a matter of urgent national
importance, we strongly support the call for the privatisation of the
country’s refineries in their present condition to avoid further revenue
losses.
“We encourage the government to adopt favourable fiscal
terms that bring about a renewed investors’ confidence and help
fast-track the 29+ refineries, which still have valid operating
licenses.”
Source: The Punch
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