As parts of efforts aimed at ensuring transparency and accountability, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has released the September 2018 edition of the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report.

According to a press release issued by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs of the NNPC Ndu Ughamadu on Wednesday, NNPC has recorded a trading surplus of ₦9.85billion for the month of September 2018, a figure which is higher than the previous month’s deficit of ₦3.90 billion.

The report showed an improved performance of ₦13.75 billion increase, relative to that of August 2018, which is as a result of higher revenue by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the corporation’s upstream subsidiary.

Mr. Ndu Ughamadu noted that NPDC’s production has been on the increase as a result of the repair works carried out on vandalized pipeline in the Niger Delta and the resumption of crude oil lifting activities at Forcados Terminal.

A total crude oil and gas export sale of $626.62million was said to be made in September, 2018 under the NNPC’s US dollar transactions which is 33.32 per cent increase on the previous month.

Furthermore, crude oil export sales contributed $508.54 million which is 81.16 per cent of the dollar transactions compared with $337.62million contribution in the previous month.

While gas sales amounted to $118.08 million in the month, adding that the September 2017 to September 2018 crude oil and gas transactions indicated that crude oil & gas worth $5.45 billion was exported.

In the downstream sector, the report noted that during the period, NNPC continued to ensure increased petrol supply and effective distribution across the country, saying that during the month, 1.66billion litres of petrol, translating to 55.50 million liters/day, were supplied by the corporation.

It also stated that in the month under review, a total of 125 pipeline points were vandalized; out of which eight pipeline points failed to be welded and only one pipeline point was ruptured. The figure translates to a significant increase from the 86 vandalized points recorded last month.

Regarding natural gas off-take, commercialization & utilization, the report indicated that out of the 238.91 Billion Cubic Feet (BCF) of gas supplied in September 2018, a total of 142.09 BCF of gas was commercialized, comprising 30.36bcf and 111.73bcf  for the domestic and export market respectively.

It also noted that a total of 1,011.96mmscf/d of gas was supplied to the domestic market and 3,724.26mmscf/d of gas supplied to the export market for the month.

This implies that 59.47 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialized while the balance of 40.53 per cent of gas was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.

The gas flare rate for the month under review was at 8.60 per cent i.e. 684.69mmscfd compared with average Gas flare rate of 10.17 per cent which is 800.59mmscfd for the period September 2017 to September 2018.