As the nation eagerly awaits the full commencement of local refining of crude oil in existing refineries, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has released data which reveals that three out of the four refineries utilised a combined average refining capacity of 14.4 per cent in 2014 represent 7.6 basis points drop from the 22 per cent utilised in 2013.
The figures contained in the NNPC Statistical Bulletin 2014 Edition released recently showed that the four local refineries processed a total of 23,360,372.27 barrels crude oil translating to 3,156,914 metric tons (mt) into various petroleum products in 2014, the lowest capacity utilisation since 2009.
Meanwhile a total 25,839,373.09 barrels or 3,491,903mt of (dry) crude oil was said to have been received by three refining companies during the year. A breakdown of the figures revealed that Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) received 672,602mt of crude oil but processed 700,080mt, the Port Harcourt Refinery (PHRC) received 1,259,326mt of crude oil but went ahead to process 1,267,780mt, while the Warri Refinery & Petrochemical Company (WRPC) which received 1,55,975mt of crude refined 1,189,054mt.
On the movement of product during the reviewing period, NNPC said a total of 23,883.83 million litres of petroleum products was distributed nationwide translating to an average daily consumption of 47.67 million litres of PMS, 8.82 million litres of AGO, 7.90 million litres of HHK and 1.04 million litres of ATK. The NNPC retails outlets nationwide was reported to have handled 1,672.43 million litres of the total volume distributed during the period amounting to 7.90 per cent.
According to the report, the Petroleum Product Marketing Company (PPMC) evacuated 3,208,462mt of petroleum products from the refineries while 7,037,264.33mt of PMS and HHK valued at N5.76 billion on Offshore Processing Agreement (OPA) and crude oil for product SWAP arrangements
