Oil Firms Pay N138bn Petroleum Tax In June

Four International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating four crude export terminals and a gas feedstock paid N138.749 billion to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as Petroleum Profit Tax, Company Income Tax and Education Tax for June 2022.

According to NNPC Ltd payment data seen at the weekend, $350.95 million or N138.556bn (at N394.80/$) was paid to FIRS with crude oil worth 2.948 million barrels under the NNPC Ltd production sharing contract with Shell, TULJA (offshore terminal) and ExxonMobil (ESSO); the crude oil was sold at an average of $119/barrel and the revenue used for the taxes.

Unspecified volume of gas amounting to $537,499.96 was also sold and used for the tax payment by Total Energies for gas export in a joint venture with NNPC Ltd; that was about N193 million at the N394.80/$ exchange rate for the tax payment.

The volume of crude oil and gas recorded was only for those sold to offset the worth of taxes for the entire crude oil and gas production for June, which was not specified in the report.

Breakdown of the payment shows that 947,283 barrels of crude worth N43.6bn was used for the taxes from Bonga field by Shell at $116/barrel; another 499,091 barrels was sold for N24.4bn to cover the taxes from Bonga field in the same month at $124/bbl.

At Egina field, TULJA offshore terminal paid taxes using 499,289 barrels that fetched Nigeria N24.7bn at $125/barrel. From the ERHA offshore, Nigeria received N23.7bn tax payment through 502,614bbl crude that was sold at $119/bbl by ExxonMobil; Mobil also raised N21.9bn from the USAN field where it sold 500,000bbl of crude for $111/bbl.

The entire crude sales totalled N138.556bn in June 2022 according to the payment record with FIRS confirming payments of the three tax categories in invoices issued by FIRS.

Nigeria has seen a decline in oil revenue recently as production capacity dropped to 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) according to the Commission Chief Executive, Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Engr. Gbenga Komolafe last week.

However, he was hopeful that with a deepened commitment to tackle oil theft, crude oil production could rise to 2m bpd, higher than the 1.8m bpd quota given to Nigeria by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).