The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has revealed that Nigerian refineries processed 10 million barrels of crude oil in the first quarter of 2017, more than they did for the whole of 2015.
According to Reuters, this revelation was made by the NNPC Group Managing Director Maikanti Baru, at a presentation to a team from the UK’s Royal College of Defence Studies
Why it’s a big deal
- Refining activities peaked at 10 million barrels of crude oil in the first quarter
- That compared with just 8 million barrels for all of 2015 and 24 million for the whole of 2016
- The 10 million barrels processed in the first quarter equates to around 111,000 barrels per day (bpd), or around 25 percent of capacity.
- Italian oil company Eni plans to build a crude refinery in Nigeria with a capacity of 150,000 barrels a day through its Agip subsidiary
Reason for the improvement
- Last year’s militancy in the southern Niger Delta region cut crude output by as much as a third, but there has been a lull in attacks this year.
- Baru said that was due to government peace talks with community groups in the region.