The value of petroleum imports into Nigeria exceeded the value of exports by $58.5 billion within a five-year period, latest figures from Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries have shown.

In its 2020 OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin released, the oil cartel said Nigeria’s petroleum imports from 2015 to 2019 was valued at $264.57 billion, while its exports during the same period was $206.07 billion.

The country exported $41.17bn, $27.29bn and $37.98bn worth of petroleum exports in 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively.

In 2018 and 2019, the values of Nigeria’s petroleum exports were $54.51bn and $45.12bn respectively.

On OPEC members’ values of petroleum imports, the organisation’s figures showed that Nigeria spent $264.57bn importing petroleum products during the five-year period.

A breakdown of the imports showed that in 2015, 2016 and 2017, petroleum imports valued at $53.53bn, $46.55bn and $49.51bn were imported into Nigeria.

The country’s petroleum imports in 2018 and 2019 were valued at $57.23bn and $58.75bn respectively.

The cartel further noted that the country’s daily crude oil production in 2019 was 1.74 million barrels.

Nigeria’s massive petroleum imports have been criticised by industry observers and players.

They have repeatedly called on Federal Government to make the country’s refineries functional, saying this would help reduce the importation of refined petroleum products.

“We will continue to import petroleum products massively as far as our refineries remain in a state of disrepair,” a former President, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Mr Sam Nzekwe, told our correspondent.

The latest figures from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on the performance of the refineries, for instance, showed that two of the facilities managed by NNPC processed no crude oil in April this year.

Findings showed that the last time Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company processed crude oil was in July 2019 when it refined 38,977 metric tonnes. It had stayed dormant since then.

For the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, it was observed that the facility last processed crude oil in May 2019, as it refined 32,967MT before relapsing into dormancy.

Among the country’s three refineries, only Port Harcourt Refining Company processed crude oil in April, as it refined 41,878MT.

However, the volume of crude processed by PHRC in April was less than what it refined in the preceding month. Findings showed that the facility processed 81,772MT in March 2020.

Punch