The group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Austin Oniwon, has revealed that Nigeria imports refined petroleum products from neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire as well as from Holland and England.
Oniwon disclosed this yesterday when he and the executive secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Mr. Reginald Elijah, appeared before the public hearing of the Senate joint committee probing the N1.3trillion fuel subsidy.
Oniwon told the stunned Senate committee that out of the 445, 000 barrels allocated to the NNPC daily, the corporation could only refine 170, 000 barrels per day at the two functional refineries in Port Harcourt and Kaduna, while 60, 000 bpd is sent to SIR Company in Cote d’Ivoire which has an installed capacity of 80, 000bpd.
He further informed? the lawmakers that another 90, 000 bpd is swapped for refining by Duke Refinery, an overseas subsidiary that is wholly owned by the NNPC, and another 60, 000 bpd is refined at the United Kingdom-based refinery, Travigora Refinery.
Elijah also confirmed that refined petroleum products were imported from Cote d’Ivoire and Holland at N140 per litre as against locally refined products at N128.13 per litre.
The PPPRA added that? the federal? government paid? N75 as subsidy per litre of fuel imported into the country, saying imports came? from Cote d’Ivoire and Holland.
He added that the PPPRA did not provide security at private tank farms where imported petroleum products for which the government has paid subsidy are stored.
But the NNPC yesterday failed to account for 65,000 barrels out of the 448,000 barrels allocated to it daily to be refined for domestic consumption.
Oninwon was, however, unable to account or give vivid details for the balance of 65, 000 bpd out of the total barrels of crude oil allocated to the corporation.
Nonetheless, he denied allegations that unnamed private companies benefit from the allocation to the corporation.
According to him, between 2006 and August 2011, the NNPC received N2.157 trillion as subsidy on petroleum products with N220 billion outstanding payment for subsidy on kerosene.
“Subsidy by implication is very easy to abuse because you’re carrying the risk on behalf of others and as a policy, it’s not good for the economy,” he said while justifying the removal of subsidy on fuel.
Cote d’Ivoire? refinery is situated in the commercial capital, Abidjan, and has the capacity to process about 80,000 barrels of crude a day. The plant is currently operating at a rate of 25,000 to 30,000 barrels and is fast depleting its stockpiled crude.
Cote d’Ivoire? has a 28 per cent stake in the refinery, while Burkina Faso’s government holds 5 percent. Total SA owns another 25 per cent and Sonangol SA, Angola’s state-owned oil company, has 20 per cent.
Meanwhile, for the second time in less than a month, residents of the Federal Capital Territory are faced with the discomfort of waiting hours on queues to purchase fuel.
The long fuel queues, which re-surfaced yesterday, has already forced the price of the product above the official selling price of N65 a litre in some filling stations across Abuja.
As would also be expected, illegal vendors popularly referred to as black marketers have taken over most filling stations and other strategic places in Abuja to make brisk business.
At the Total and Conoil filling stations opposite the NNPC Towers in Central Area, Abuja, long fuel queues were noticed, even as the black marketers seized the opportunity to make quick money.
As at the time of filling this report, the immediate cause of the queues could not be ascertained.
However, the NNPC spokesman, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, has repeatedly assured of ample supply of the product, noting that the scarcity was artificially induced.
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