Energy
NNPC: Details of June Financial and Operations Report
The report indicated that petroleum receipts for the month reflected crude oil earnings of $230.65 million
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) earned $378.42 million from crude oil and gas export in June. This is a significant increase when compared to $133.16 million recorded in May 2020.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Group General Manager of NNPC’s Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, on Sunday in Abuja.
According to the June Monthly Financial and Operations Report, the amount signalled a marked improvement in revenue earnings, following the ease of the COVID-19 pandemic global lockdown and the subsequent increased demand and firmer prices for the black gold in the international market.
READ: Nigeria’s inflation rate jumps to 12.82%, highest in 27 months
Petroleum receipt
The report indicated that petroleum receipts for the month reflected crude oil earnings of $230.65 million, with gas and miscellaneous proceeds standing at $75.97million and $71.80 million dollars, respectively.
It puts the total crude oil and gas export earnings for the period between June 2019 and June 2020 at $4.60 billion.
On petroleum products supply in the downstream sector, the report said that 1.34 billion litres of white products were distributed and sold across the country by NNPC’s downstream subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC).
It noted that the figure was significantly higher than the 950.67 million litres of white products sold and distributed in May 2020.
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Breakdown of products sold
The June 2020 figures indicated that over 1.3 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), 5.10 million litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), and 1.65 million litres of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), were sold and distributed during the period.
“White products sale for the period from June 2019 to June 2020, stood at over 19.104billion litres, with PMS accounting for over 18.9billion litres or 99.36 per cent.
“In monetary value terms, the above volumes translated to a total sale of ₦134.22billion of white products by PPMC in June, compared to ₦92.58billion sales in May.
“Total revenues recorded from the sales of white products for the period from June 2019 to June 2020 stood at over ₦2.267trillion, where PMS contributed about 99.12 per cent of the total sales, with a value of over ₦2.247trillion,” the report revealed.
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Pipeline vandalism
In the month under review, the report further noted that 33 pipeline points were vandalised, representing about 11% decrease from the 37 points recorded in May 2020.
It added that Mosimi-Ibadan accounted for 33%, while Atlas Cove-Mosimi and Warri-River Niger recorded 27% of the breaks each, with other locations making up for the remaining 13%.
The MFOR stated that in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders, the corporation would continuously strive to rein in on the incidences of pipeline breaches across the country.
Gas sector
Out of the 232.03 billion Cubic Feet of gas (BCF) supplied in June 2020, 148.66 BCF of gas was commercialised.
This, it noted, consisted of 34.64BCF and 114.01BCF for the domestic and export market, respectively.
“The transaction translated to a total supply of 1,154.78million Standard Cubic Feet of gas per day (mmscfd) to the domestic market and 3,800.45mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month,” it added.
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This means that 64.07% of the average daily gas produced is commercialised, while the balance of 35.93% is re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas, or flared.
Gas flare rate for the month of June stood at 6.11%, implying 472.94mmscfd, compared with average Gas flare rate of 7.84%, equivalent of 611.73mmscfd for the period from June 2019 to June 2020.
Energy
FG committed to ending estimated electricity billing – Deputy Senate President
The Deputy Senate President has said that the FG is committed to increasing economic productivity through power.
The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege has assured Nigerians that the federal government is committed to ending the era of estimated electricity billing, citing the mass metering programme initiated by the government.
The Senator disclosed this at the breaking ceremony of the Power Sub-Station in Orogun constructed by Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), Ughellli North Local Government Area of Delta, on Saturday.
What the Senator said about ending mass metering
“I remind the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) of its obligation to customers and the government regarding the mass metering initiative of the Federal Government aimed at ending the era of estimated billing syndrome,” he said.
“That is what President Muhammadu Buhari and members of the National Assembly want.
All over the world, you pay for the energy you consume. The only obligation government has is to provide the enabling environment for it to be made available,” Omo-Agege said.
READ: How to reduce your electricity bill in Lagos
He disclosed that the FG will introduce more power-related policies when the implementation of the 2021 budget begins, as the FG is committed to increasing economic productivity through power.
“The objective has been to ensure that the number of people who use modern energy should increase to reduce social cost than to increase social benefits. The establishment of this power sub-station is one of the several initiatives of this administration aimed at addressing the energy poverty in our nation,” he added.
READ: Buhari moves against DISCOs that collect money for prepaid meters
What you should know
Recall Nairametrics reported in March that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disbursed N123.34 billion to Distribution Companies (DisCos) to boost electricity supply in the country for the procurement of meters and other equipment needed to improve power.
CBN disbursed N33.45 billion to nine DisCos for the procurement of 605,852 meters, while N89.89 billion was disbursed under the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility (NEMSF 2) to 11 DisCos to improve electricity supply in the country.
Columnists
What FGN Free Meter Program means for the power sector
Without effective penalties for erring DisCos and consumers, progress may still remain very slow.
According to news reports, the Minister of Power, Mamman Saleh on Wednesday said the distribution of the four million free electricity prepaid meters pledged by the Central Bank of Nigeria would soon begin across the country.
According to him, the government is wrapping up the distribution of its initial one million meters, which he labelled phase zero, and would soon begin the distribution of the four million sponsored by CBN, which he tagged phase two. He also noted that the Federal Executive Council approved N3bn for the execution of six major electricity projects in the country to upgrade Nigeria’s electricity facilities and improve power supply across the country.
Ineffective metering remains a major drawback to the success of power sector reforms in Nigeria. While some consumers avoid paying for power consumed through meter bypass, some other consumers are made to pay for what they have not consumed through estimated billing by DisCos.
DisCos have been largely unsuccessful with metering their customers.
As far as inadequate metering is concerned, DisCos over time, have used this situation to their advantage via estimated billings. It appears that fully metering customers are currently being viewed as a disincentive, given that estimated bills can easily be manipulated.
According to a report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), only 4,234,759 (40.27%) of the total customer population of 10,516,090 were metered as of 30 June 2020. Clearly, this validates the widely held view that there are a wide number of customers on estimated billing which gives room for illegal connection to the networks and in turn corrupt practices. NERC further revealed that only three out of 11 Electricity Distribution Companies in the country had metered more than 50% of electricity customers under their coverage areas as of June 2020.
Effective metering in our view is one step ahead in solving the myriad of problems embattling the Nigerian power sector. Though supposed to be unpaid for, many customers in a bid to avoid the bureaucracy associated with getting meters have paid to get their own meters. We believe the provision of meters to all end-use customers will go a long way in ameliorating the liquidity squeeze in the power sector whilst also providing cashflow to the DisCos for investment in equipment needed to evacuate unused electricity to consumers nationwide.
We laud the FG’s efforts at distributing meters freely to end-users, but we note that without effective penalties for erring DisCos and consumers, progress may still remain very slow.
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