Petroleum industry owes Nigerian govt $6bn, N66bn – NEITI Report

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) says outstanding collectible revenues due to the federal government in the oil and gas industry have risen to $6.071 billionand N66.4 billion as of June 2024, respectively.

NEITI disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at the public presentation of its 2022 and 2023 Independent Oil and Gas Industry Reports.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the report was prepared by the NEITI Board and the National Stakeholders Working Group (NSWG).

Ola Olukoyede, chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), unveiled the report alongside George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and chairperson of NSWG, NEITI, and other dignitaries.

The breakdown of the report showed that outstanding liabilities were $6.049 billion and N65.9 billion in unpaid royalties and gas flare penalties due to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) as collectable revenues by 31 August 2024.

It also provided a detailed analysis of the information and data regarding who owes what in outstanding revenues due to the government.

A further breakdown showed outstanding petroleum profit taxes, company income taxes, withholding taxes, and Value Added Tax (VAT), due to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), amounting to $21.926 million and N492.8 million as of June 2024.

The latest NEITI report on fuel importation disclosed that 23.54 billion litres of petrol were imported into the country in 2022 and 20.28 billion litres in 2023.

This represents a reduction of 3.25 billion litres, or a 14 per cent decline.

Ten-year trend analysis

The NEITI report included a detailed 10-year trend analysis (2014 – 2023) showing that the highest annual petrol importation into the country, 23.54 billion litres, was recorded in 2022, while the lowest, 16.88 billion litres, was recorded in 2017.

The NEITI report also disclosed that a total of N15.87 trillion was claimed as under-recovery and price differentials between 2006 and 2023, with the highest amount, N4.714 trillion, recorded in 2022.

On crude production, fiscalised crude production in 2022 stood at 490.945 million barrels, compared to 556.130 million barrels produced in 2021, representing an 11 per cent decline.

However, in 2023, NEITI’s independent report revealed total fiscalised production of 537.571 million barrels, and 46.626 million barrel or a 9.5 per cent increase from total production recorded in 2022.

A 10-year trend (2014 – 2023) of fiscalised crude oil production in Nigeria showed the highest production volume of 798.542 million barrels was recorded in 2014, while the lowest, 490.945 million barrels, was recorded in 2022.

The NEITI report further provided detailed information and data on crude lifting, disclosing that in 2022, total crude lifting was 482.074 million barrels compared to 551.006 million barrels lifted in 2021.

“In 2023, total crude lifting stood at 534.159 million barrels, representing an 11 per cent increase of 58.08 million barrels,” the report stated.

On oil theft and crude losses, a total of 7.68 million barrels of crude were either stolen or lost in 2023, representing a significant drop of 79 per cent (29.02 million barrels) compared to 36.69 million barrels either stolen or lost in 2022.

The NEITI report reviewed all aspects of the regulatory framework for the oil and gas industry.

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This included the legal framework, fiscal regime, roles of government entities and reforms, as well as laws, Petroleum Industry Act and regulations relating to addressing corruption risks in the oil and gas sector.

The event was supported by the European Union and the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption programme being implemented by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

(NAN)