Standup9ja: Nigeria Records N3.3 Trillion Lost In Oil Revenue In 2016

Standup9ja: Nigeria Records N3.3 Trillion Lost In Oil Revenue In 2016

The federal government has recorded a deficit of $11 billion (N3.3 trillion using the official exchange rate of $305 per dollar) revenue from crude oil export in 2016, according to the oil and gas revenue fact sheet of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Based on the revenue fact sheet released on Monday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Nigeria’s crude oil revenue fell from the $37 billion recorded in 2015 to $26 billion in 2016.

This is coming against the backdrop of $10 billion (N3.05 trillion) the Africa’s most populous nation earned from oil export between January and April this year.

Globally, the 13-member cartel of OPEC earned about $433 billion in net oil export revenues in 2016.

This represents a 15 per cent decline from the $509 billion earned in 2015, mainly as a result of the fall in average oil prices during the year, and to a lesser extent to decreases in the level of OPEC net oil exports.

This revenue, according to EIA, was the lowest earnings for OPEC since 2004. The net oil export revenues reflect OPEC members as of May 2017. Nonetheless, the EIA said Nigeria became the sixth highest revenue earner among the 13 OPEC member countries in the 2016 period.

For example, Saudi Arabia occupied the number position with revenue of $133 billion; Iraq, $54 billion; United Arab Emirates, $47 billion; Kuwait, $37 billion; Iran, $36; and Nigeria, $26 billion.

It explained that the net export earnings also included Iran, which the EIA did not include in earlier reports published between 2012 and 2015.

    The EIA stated: “However, Iran’s net export revenues are not adjusted for possible price discounts the country may have offered its customers between late 2011 and January 2016, when nuclear-related sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sales were in place. Saudi Arabia earned the largest share of these earnings, $133 billion in 2016, representing approximately one-third of total OPEC oil revenues.”