Oil Firms Set To Pay FG N411bn For Crude Oil Sales
Chevron, ExxonMobil, and four other multinationals operating in Nigeria’s upstream sector would pay a total of N411billion for February’s domestic crude oil sales in the month of May 2022, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has said.
According to the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) report presented by NNPC Limited, the state-owned oil company explained that February crude oil exports of 122,666 barrels, valued at $13million was payable in March 2022, while the domestic crude oil payment of N411billion is expected in May 2022.
“February 2022 Domestic Crude Oil Payable in May 2022 by NNPC in line with the 90 days payment terms,” NNPC said in its April 2022 FAAC report.
According to NNPC, Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) would for 1.8million of domestic crude valued at N84.2billion in May 2022, while Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) would remit N161billion for 3.7million barrels of domestic crude oil.
The Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) would pay a combined N103bilion for N2.3million barrels of crude oil while Total E&P Nigeria Limited (TEPNG) and First Exploration and Production would be paying for 947,825 and 650,094 barrels of domestic crude oil valued at N36billion and N26billion, respectively.
While some analysts have said the failure of the government in meeting its obligations in the payment of cash calls to the oil companies as well as meeting other Joint Venture (JV) agreements is responsible for the indebtedness, others insisted that the government is not doing enough in recovering existing debt.
Energy lawyer, Emeka Okwuosa, who is the managing partner of The Chancery Associates, said it remained disheartening for the government to allow oil companies to owe “such a humongous amount,” while the country is begging abroad for loans and debt forgiveness.
“We need to pay our cash call obligations promptly and create structures that will allow Nigeria to take complete advantage of the higher crude oil price era,” Okwuosa said at an industry event.
Data from NNPC Limited also showed that a total of N574.668billion was shared in January 2022 among the Federal Government, states and local government councils.
The amount comprised distributable statutory revenue of N291.400billion; distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N178.066billion and Exchange Gain of N5.202billion and non-mineral revenue of N100.000billion.
In January 2022, the total deduction for the cost of collection was N 25.421billion, and the total deductions for statutory transfers, refunds and savings was N92.767billion.
In February, federal, state and local governments shared the sum of N695.033billion as federation allocation by the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), for the month of February 20222.
Out of the N695billion, gross revenue available was N177.873billion, compared to N191.222billion in January, while the Federal Government received the highest allocation of N239billion from a total sum of N695.033billion shared.
