The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC has disclosed that the Federal Government’s crude oil sales revenue plunged by 74.89 percent in July to a record low of $55.29m.
The NNPC’s latest data on the Federal Government’s export lifting showed that its crude oil sales proceeds stood at $219.58m in June, up from $120.50m in May.
Following the collapse in global crude oil prices and demand, Nigeria’s crude oil revenue tumbled from $336.65m in January to $281.14m in February, $184.59m in March, and $148.86m in April.
The international oil benchmark, Brent crude, had slumped to as low as $15.98 per barrel in April from $70 per barrel in January.
But oil prices have risen in recent months on the back of the production cuts by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies as well as the gradual reopening of many economies.
Brent, against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, stood at $43.15 per barrel as of 7:30 pm Nigerian time on Sunday.
Oil and gas account for about 50 percent of the Nigerian government revenues and over 90 percent of export earnings, although it represents only about 10 percent of the country’s GDP.
The corporation said gas export sales amounted to $29.33m in July.
July 2019 to July 2020 crude oil and gas transactions indicated that crude oil and gas worth $3.91bn was exported,” it added.
According to the report, the federation crude oil and gas lifting are broadly classified into equity export and domestic, and are lifted and marketed by the NNPC while the proceeds remitted into the Federation Account.
The NNPC according to the report also lifts crude oil and gas on behalf of the Department of Petroleum Resources and the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the proceeds are remitted into Federation Account.
