Nigeria pays oil majors $3bn, moving closer to ending dues
Nigeria reimbursed oil companies including Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell $3-billion, moving closer to clearing operating expense arrears owed since 2010.
The payment is being settled through a five-year crude oil sales deal agreed in 2016, Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) said in a statement. While a majority has been paid as of August, there’s still about $1.7-billion outstanding. Exxon has got $2.3-billion, clearing all dues. Shell has received $455-million, but is still owed $917-million.
NNPC operates joint ventures with producers including Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron Corp, Total and Eni that pump about 80% of Nigeria’s output. Lower revenue and demands for other payments hampered NNPC’s ability to contribute its share of expenses from 2010 to 2015, leading to the arrears.
It still owes Eni $385-million, Total $304-million and Chevron $55-million, according to the statement.
The oil majors didn’t immediately respond to requests for comments.
The Nigerian state-run company on October 15 published audited accounts for only the second time in its 43-year history. The report showed its annual loss shrank to just a few million dollars last year from about $2-billion in 2018 as it slashed costs across its operations.
The payments to the oil companies suggest NNPC may finally be turning a corner with profit and cash. That’s good news for Nigeria’s oil industry, which generates about half of all government revenue. But like oil companies around the world, NNPC is also facing weak global demand because of the coronavirus and new restrictions to contain it.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation