Drums of oil

Nigeria’s crude oil refining capacity has further reduced to just 6,000 barrels per day, according to data obtained from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. In its latest Annual Statistical Bulletin 2023, obtained by The PUNCH, OPEC said the country’s capacity to refine its crude oil went from 33,000 bpd in 2018 to 6,000 bpd in 2022. The country’s crude oil refining capacity was down by 33 per cent last year from 5,000 bpd in 2021. According to the oil cartel, Nigeria has an average refining capacity of 10,600 bpd in five years, making it the OPEC member with the lowest refining capacity. There have been growing concerns over the country’s continued importation of petroleum products despite having government-owned refineries. Saudi Arabia currently has the highest refining capacity among OPEC members with an average equivalent of 2.6 million barrels per day, according to OPEC. Algeria, Angola, Congo, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela out-performed Nigeria’s refining capacity between 2018 and 2022, OPEC data indicated. Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd stopped the petrol subsidy regime in June due to the cost the government was spending importing petrol.

Punch