The
Nigerian government’s gross revenue dropped 42% month-on-month to
N497.98 billion ($3.1 billion) in July, because of disruption to oil
production caused by thieves hacking into pipelines, the Finance
Ministry said Friday.
An online financial website, Platts McGraw Hill Financial, stated this in its report.
“The gross revenue of N497.98 billion
received for the month was lower than the Naira 863.02 billion received
in the previous month,” the ministry said in a statement.
“This was due to continuous theft of
crude oil, leakages, pipeline breaks at various terminals, high-pressure
compressor failures and repair work.”
Africa’s top oil producer was forced to
withdraw N115 billion from its oil windfall savings account to provide
money shared out between Nigeria’s 36 states to pay public workers and
finance capital projects for July, the ministry said.
Oil accounts for more than 85% of Nigeria’s export earnings.
Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
said in July that Africa’s top oil producer’s revenues were dwindling
due to the loss of about 400,000 b/d of its oil production to pipeline
sabotage, illegal bunkering and large-scale theft.
Data released by Nigeria’s central bank
so far this year, has shown that oil production has been lower than the
2.53 million b/d assumption used by the government for the purpose of
revenue calculation in the 2013 budget.
Oil theft, known in Nigeria as illegal
bunkering, is a major reason the country has been unable to produce
anywhere near its installed capacity of around 3.2 million barrels per
day.
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