Importation of refined petroleum products into Nigeria declined to 5.3 billion litres in the second quarter of 2018, Q2'18, showing a drop of 15.3 percent from 6.149 billion litres recorded in the Q1'18. In its latest report released yesterday, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, indicated that 4.79 billion litres of premium motor spirits (PMS), popularly known as Petrol, while 1.11 billion litres of automotive gas oil (AGO), or diesel were imported during the period.
The report stated that, 43.79 million litres of household kerosene (HHK) and 200.39 million litres of aviation turbine kerosene (ATK) were imported into the country in Q2'18. A breakdown showed that, April 2018 recorded the highest volumes of petrol imports into the country at 1.78 billion litres while the highest volume of diesel and HHK, were imported in June 2018. The report also showed that 4.89bn of petrol, 1.17 billion litres of diesel, 168.83 million litres of HHK, and 176.98 million litres of ATK, were distributed nationwide during the period under review.
The importation was fueled by the apparent poor state of Nigerias refineries. Referencing the challenges of the sector, the Group Managing Director, GMD, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Makanti Baru, said recently, In the Midstream and with respect to our four refineries, we realized that our refineries operated at a loss with low limits of authority, long procurement cycles, restrictive funding, regulated cash margins and little autonomy, in addition to human capacity and supply chain challenges.
(Vanguard)
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