Oil Crisis:- Nigeria loses $1.3million in October; shares N473.8bn with States

Nigeria’s earnings from oil exports dropped further in October, with a loss of about $1.3 million (about N256.1 million), as the slide in global crude oil prices continued to negatively impact the country’s economy.

The loss was a result of drop in average crude oil price from $47.315 a barrel in August to $46.96 in September, said the minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun.


However, compared to September, the revenue slide was relatively smaller.

Oil receipts which stood at about N213.128 billion in September, dropped by about N25.898 billion, to N187.23 billion in October, as the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, converged on Abuja on Friday to share the statutory allocation for the month.

At the close of trading on Friday, Brent crude oil price, which opened at $43.04 per barrel, dropped by 2.95 percent, to about $41.77, signalling no respite for Nigeria and other major oil producers struggling to keep their heads above the economic waters.

Members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC are already preparing for the 168th meeting of the group scheduled for Vienna, Austria next Friday to attempt to strike a compromise on how to stabilize the market and firm up commodity prices.

Members of the group are already jittery, amid fears that crude oil price may be heading towards the $20 per barrel mark, down from a peak of over $107 per barrel in June 2014, if steps were not taken to attempt to salvage the situation.

The N187.23 billion oil revenue in October would be the worst accrual from oil exports since the present administration took over power.

In May, FAAC reported a yield of about N225.2 billion, which increased to about N289.4 billion in June.

Although about N213.13 billion was realized as oil revenues in September, it was lower by about N2.85 billion than the N215.98 billion in August.

At the end of the FAAC meeting in October, the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, had explained that the drop in oil revenue was as a result of the negative impact of facility shutdowns for maintenance and production shut-ins at different periods and terminals during the month.

At the end of the FAAC meeting in Abuja on Friday, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said gross revenue received in October stood at N400.310 billion, which is higher by N78.314 billion than the N321.996 billion for the previous month.

Mrs. Adeosun said intermittent shutdowns of operational facilities and production shut-ins for repairs and maintenance at different terminals continued to negatively impact on crude oil and gas revenue during the month.

Besides, the Minister said the country lost about $1.3 million (about N256.1 million) as a result of drop in average crude oil price from $47.315 in August to $46.96 in September.

To make up for the drop, Mrs. Adeosun said non-oil revenue recorded a significant improvement during the month, with about N104.212 billion collection above the figure in September.

In addition, about N6.33 billion was received from the Nigerian National petroleum Corporation, NNPC, as refund for the N450 billion unremitted revenue since 2012, while another N6.995 billion came into the government coffers as exchange gain for the month.

Apart from a total of N57.789 billion realised from value added tax, VAT, collection, the Minister said the balance in the excess crude oil revenue account remained ta $2.258 billion.

Details of the revenue allocations to the three tiers of government for the month showed that the Federal Government took N200.662 billion, or 52.68 per cent; states N126.277 billion, or 26.72 per cent; local governments N95.303 billion, while 13 per cent oil derivation to the nine oil producing states was N24.141 billion.

On stolen funds, which President Muhammadu Buhari said recently that some public officials have started returning to the Federal Government, the Minister said such monies were not part of the revenues shared during the FAAC meeting.

“Recovered loot is not shared in the FAAC meeting,” the minister said. “We have no records of recovered loots. But, I am sure the process is on-going. When the accounts of such returns become available, they would be returned to wherever they were stolen from.”