Revealed: Crude swap data contradicts FG’s claim on reduced fuel use in Q3 ‘19
A humongous contradiction has been smoked out from the claims by the Federal Government that border closure reduced domestic fuel consumption in third quarter 2019.
Otherwise, the impression created by the government that part of the advantages of border closure since August 2019 manifested in ending fuel smuggling through the land borders has been found to be false after all.
This is based on the revelation made by the latest data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on crude oil swap showing that the volume of crude swapped by the Corporation in September 2019 was 5.95 million barrels higher than what was recorded in September 2018.
In September 2018, the NNPC swapped 8.54 million barrels of crude oil, but this increased to 14.49 million barrels in September 2019.
If the logic of the government on border closure was anything to go by, there would not have been increased crude oil swap within the period under review, but reduction.
The report further stated that in September 2019, the NNPC lifted 10,665,632 barrels of crude oil from the daily allocation for domestic utilisation translating to an average volume of 355,521 barrels of oil per day in terms of performance.
Recall that border closure policy came into effect on August 2019 which marked total blockage of smuggling of refined products from Nigeria.
Business Hilights recalls that some months into the closure of Nigeria’s land border to curb smuggling activities, especially rice and fuel, President Muhammadu Buhari while receiving a delegation of Katsina State Elders Forum at his country home in Daura in December 2019 claimed that the country’s domestic fuel consumption had dropped by more than 30 per cent, following closure of land borders.
But the latest data from the NNPC on the use of crude oil swap deal has shown that the presidential claims that border closure and the attendant suspension of supplies to petrol stations 20kms to the border did not only change anything, but was false.
The NNPC report revealed further that a total of 150.4 million barrels of crude oil valued at N3.04tn was swapped for refined petroleum products between September 2018 and September 2019.
Nigeria’s refineries are operating far below expectation in terms of crude oil refining and so the NNPC swaps crude oil with selected companies, who in turn refine the commodity and supply refined petroleum products to the corporation.
The swap scheme is known as Direct Sale-Direct Purchase of petroleum products (DSDP).
