NNPC spends N572bn on JV expenses, frontier exploration, others

largely remained comatose, with talks still on for a $1.5 billion rehabilitation project for the Port Harcourt refinery alone.

The NNPC also expended N14.92 billion on National Domestic gas Development projects; N13.77 billion on pipeline security and maintenance cost; and N7.48 billion on gas infrastructure development programmes.

Frontier Exploration Services, which currently covers crude oil find in the northern part of the country, gulped N6.14 billion of the NNPC’s finances; crude oil pre-export inspection agency expenses stood at N1.259 billion; while Renewable Energy Development, RED, and the NigeriaMorocco pipeline projects gulped N375 million and N250 million, respectively, over the four-month period.

In the period under review, the NNPC did not make any financial commitments towards the Brass Liquefied Natural Gas supply projects, even as there was no budget provision for the project.

Furthermore, the NNPC said as at March 2021, it has paid $3.14 billion to five of its Joint Venture partners for its cash call indebtedness to the firms prior to 2016, leaving a balance of $1.549 billion. The NNPC had negotiated the indebtedness to $4.689 billion as at 2016 and had agreed on a repayment timeline with the JV partners.

The balance remaining Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) $917.21 million; Chevron Nigeria Limited $55.48 million; Total Exploration and Production Nigeria, TEPNG, now Total Energies, $231.22 million; and Nigeria Agip Oil Company, NAOC, $345.19 million; while the NNPC said it has fully repaid its indebtedness to Mobil Producing Nigeria.