Nigeria’s crude oil export dipped further by 130,000 barrels per day, as operators yesterday said the Trans Niger Pipeline, TNP, operated by Shell Nigeria, has been shut down after a leak was discovered on the pipeline.
The operator, who chose not to be named, said a memo was sent out to participants in the TNP, that the pipeline was expected to be shut down for at least a week.
The shutdown would see a deferment of about 130,000 barrels per day crude oil export, which would cost Nigeria about $6.716 million, an equivalent of N1.343 billion per day.
This was even as another operator said the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL), carrying Bonny Light crude oil to the export terminal has been reopened. The operator said the pipeline which was shut down last month Aiteo, has been repaired and is operating again. Sources said that Bonny Light production from the Aiteo field was also ramping up after the pipeline restart.
The Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), according to Shell, transports around 180,000 barrels of crude oil per day to the Bonny Export Terminal and is part of the gas liquids evacuation infrastructure, critical for continued domestic power generation (Afam VI power plant) and liquefied gas exports. Shell said the TNP loop line project created an alternative route to avoid sabotage, bypassing areas where theft and illegal refining was common.
Meawhile as a result of sabotage of oil assets in the Niger Delta region, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in its April report announced a loss of N19.43 billion in its financials for the month of April 2016.
The NNPC, in its Monthly Financial and Operations Report for April 2016, said the loss recorded in the month under review, represented a worsening deficit of 2.83 per cent over a loss of N18.89 billion recorded in March 2016.
According to the report, NNPC’s revenue in the month under review, dipped slightly by 4.99 per cent to N102.446 billion, from N107. 826 billion recorded in the previous month, while its expenses dipped by 3.82 per cent to N121.875 billion compared to expenses of N126.72 billion recorded in March.
The NNPC attributed the loss in the month under review to pipeline vandalism, which forced one of its subsidiaries, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, to undertake a production shut-in, thereby, losing a monthly crude oil revenue of N20 billion. It said, “NPDC deficit and low revenue in the month of February to March 2016 and April 2016 was due to production shut–in, resulting to loss of entire NPDC’s revenue from crude oil sales of about N20 billion occasioned by vandalism of Forcados Export Line.”
The NNPC also blamed its unimpressive financial performance on losses recorded in the operations of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, due to the fuel scarcity recorded in the period under review.
According to the NNPC, the increase in the deficit for April was also due to losses incurred by PPMC, being the sole supply of last resort in its drive to bridge the petroleum products supply gap as acute shortage which compelled PPMC to sometime engage in a commercially unfavourable short term arrangements.
