Nigeria Nationwide Petroleum Co. Ltd (NNPC) has acknowledged dealing with monetary pressure from indebtedness to petrol suppliers and conceded Nigeria faces dangers of gasoline scarcity.
Beforehand the nationwide oil and fuel firm denied it owed $6.8 billion to worldwide merchants. “Within the oil buying and selling enterprise, transactions are carried out on credit score, and so it’s regular to owe at one level or the opposite”, NNPC stated in an announcement August 18 on social media platform X. “However NNPC Ltd., by way of its subsidiary, NNPC Buying and selling, has many open commerce credit score traces from a number of merchants. The corporate is paying its obligations of associated invoices on a first-in-first-out foundation”.
Whereas it didn’t present any quantity in an announcement acknowledging it certainly faces debt pressure from the procurement of refined gasoline, NNPC stated the liabilities have been “important”, confirming media experiences.
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“This monetary pressure has positioned appreciable strain on the Firm and poses a risk to the sustainability of gasoline provide”, stated the transient assertion on the corporate’s web site.
Two months in the past Reuters reported that the West African nation’s debt to gasoline suppliers breached $6 billion, doubling from April. The ballooning gasoline debt comes as “NNPC struggles to cowl the hole between mounted pump costs and worldwide gasoline prices”, it wrote July 4 citing unnamed business sources.
NNPC chief govt Mele Kyari confirmed to the information company the corporate was in search of a mortgage to cowl 30,000–35,000 barrels per day of crude manufacturing. However Kyari denied any downside overlaying gasoline funds. “That is simply cash for regular enterprise and never a determined act”, Kyari instructed Reuters.
In its assertion this week, the NNPC stated, “We’re actively collaborating with related authorities businesses and different stakeholders to take care of a constant provide of petroleum merchandise nationwide”.
Final Might NNPC acknowledged queues on the pump however assured there was no upcoming scarcity. “In filling stations monitored throughout a number of states, together with Lagos and the FCT [Federal Capital Territory], the queues have since thinned out, a improvement that may preserve enhancing day by day in different states”, it stated in an announcement Might 7.
“The NNPC Ltd can also be collaborating with related downstream businesses, such because the Nigeran Midstream & Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), labor unions within the sector and safety operatives to deal with hoarding and different unwholesome practices”, it stated on the time.
The NMDPRA beforehand dismissed issues of gasoline scarcity following the brand new administration’s removing of a gasoline subsidy final yr, partially reinstated later. In his inaugural handle Might 29, 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu introduced the choice as a part of efforts to lighten the federal government’s monetary burdens.
Nonetheless, in response to rising prices of residing, the Tinubu authorities reimplemented partly the gasoline subsidy, the Worldwide Financial Fund confirmed in a financing evaluation report February 9, 2024. The administration “capped retail gasoline and electrical energy costs — thus partially reversing the gasoline subsidy removing”, the United Nations lender stated.
In an announcement June 10, 2024, NNPC denied inflating its claims for gasoline subsidy by NGN 3.3 trillion ($2.1 billion).
Final month NNPC reported a file web revenue of NGN 3.297 trillion ($2.1 billion) for 2023 and denied it had didn’t remit income to the state from January 2024.
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