Nigerian refineries record zero output in Q1

Nigeria’s four refineries, which are expected to resume production at “appreciable “ capacity levels this month, actually recorded zero output in the first quarter of this year.

Sliding production trend of the refineries began last year, with total output of 2.7 million metric tonnes, a 50 per cent drop from the production figure of preceding year.

The country has four refineries, two in Port Harcourt (PHRC 1 and PHRC 2), and one each in Kaduna (KRPC) and Warri (WRPC). The refineries have a combined installed capacity of 445,000 barrels per day (bpd), but hardly produce 10 per cent of its installed capacity.

The sliding production profile of the refineries have accentuated importation volume of petroleum products over the years, with substantial amount of subsidies being paid to importing marketing companies.

Specifically, zero barrels of slop were received by the three refineries – KRPC, PHRC and WRPC respectively. “With an opening stock of 1,164.61 thousand barrels, total crude oil available for processing was 1,164.61 thousand barrels out of which zero barrels was processed. The respective average capacity utilization during the month was 0.00 per cent for KRPC, PHRC 1 and PHRC 2 and WRPC respectively.

The combined average refining capacity utilization for year 2014 was 14.4 per cent as against 22 per cent in the previous year.

According to the yearly report of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) released recently, the local refineries received a total of 36,193,237 barrels (4,917,613 mt) of (dry) crude oil, condensate and slops and processed 35,233,126 barrels (4,761,496 mt) into various petroleum products in 2013.

The total production output by the refineries was 5,067,501 metric tons of various petroleum products. The combined average refining capacity utilization for year 2013 was 22 per cent as against 21 per cent in the previous year in 2012.

It stated that a total of 1,668.00 sq. kms of 3D Seismic data was acquired during the year, while 9,082.32 sq kms was processed/reprocessed respectively. “A total of 78 wells were drilled. Table 2 gives a summary of drilling activities during the year.

The report put the total crude oil and condensate production for the year at 798,541,589 barrels giving a daily average of 2.19 mmbpd.

This, it noted, is slightly lower than the previous year’s by 0.24 per cent. “In the gas sector, a total of 2,524.27 Billion Standard Cubic Feet (BSCF) of Natural Gas production was reported by 28 companies. This shows an increase of 8.56 per centwhen compared with 2013 production. Of the quantity produced, 2,233.49 BSCF (88.53 per cent) was utilized, while 289.60 BSCF (11.47 per cent) was flared”.