Refineries Remained Dormant For Three Months, Record Losses

A recent report on the activities of the refineries under the auspices of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation have remained dormant for three months consecutively, as they have not produced any oil.

An analysis of the refineries put together reveals that the oil refining plants have remained ineffective through the months of July, August, and September.

The companies in question are the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, the Port Harcourt Refining Company, and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company.

The production capacity of these refineries were set at zero percent in those three months that they have been in the doldrums.

According to the released report, the three refineries, together, have been recording and posting losses every month, and the highest ever recorded loss between the three refineries was in the month of June 2019. In that month, the refineries lost over N17.4 billion.

According to the report, “In September 2019, the three refineries processed no crude but produced 967 metric tonnes of finished products; primarily from the WRPC and PHRC.

“Similar to last month, combined yield efficiency is 0.00 per cent owing largely to ongoing rehabilitation work in the refineries.”

“The declining operational performance recorded is attributable to ongoing revamping of the refineries, which is expected to further enhance capacity utilisation once completed.

“The model takes cognisance of the products worth and crude costs. The combined value of output by the three refineries (at import-parity price) for the month of September 2019 amounted to N1.03bn.

“No associated crude plus freight cost for the three refineries since there was no production, while operational expenses amounted to N11.24bn. This resulted in the current operating deficit of N10.20bin and an adjusted deficit of 7.07bn by the refineries, after adjusting for prior overstated deficits by the PHRC.”