…Targets $70 million profit
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) through its subsidiary Duke Oil has sealed a pact to supply 30,000 barrels per day crude oil supply to Indonesia’s state oil corp, Pertamina, and Indian Oil Corporation.
The development, which will strengthen the nation’s revenue outlook is coming in the face of the volatility and uncertainty in the oil industry.
The move, which also signals the nation’s attempt to capture market share in Asia countries may push the profit of the entity to about $70 million in the 2021 trading year.
Managing Director of NNPC Trading Company Limited, Lawal Sade, who disclosed this in the latest edition of NNPC Quarterly Magazine revealed that its oil trading entity, Duke Oil, has diversified its trading portfolio and adopted alternative trading strategies to increase its volumes and profitability.
Sade revealed that the subsidiary has concluded plans to take part in upstream third-party financing for direct access to Nigeria’s equity crude oil as well as securing 120,000MT of storage and blending facilities offshore.
The subsidiary is also expected to expand into expanding into bitumen and base oil importation in the 2021 trading year.
Sade disclosed that the move has already seen the gross revenue of the entity growing to N28 billion against a budgeted figure of N16 billion. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the development led to additional N12 billion income.
“Further from the impacts of COVID-19 and the thinking-out-of-the-box his management adopted, the company made remarkable inroads into the Asian market as a secured off-taker of Nigeria’s crude. From this, supply deals were hammered out with refiners in India amongst others.”