Total Nigeria posts N163m quarterly loss
Total Nigeria Plc, a subsidiary of French oil major Total Group, posted a loss of N163.22m for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.
That is a 66 per cent drop compared to the N474.09m loss recorded in the same period a year ago.
The oil marketing firm’s unaudited financial statement obtained from the Nigerian Stock Exchange showed that its revenue dropped to N70.24bn in the period under review from N77.42bn in the same period in 2019.
Total is the only international oil company operating in the downstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
In 2017, the United States-based ExxonMobil divested its 60 per cent stake in Mobil Oil Nigeria to Nipco Plc, an indigenous Nigerian downstream oil and gas company.
Total Nigeria said it had successfully put in place the necessary measures and resources to continue supply to its customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the deregulation of petrol market, the firm noted that the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation announced on March 18, 2020 that petrol pump prices would be reduced to N125 per litre from N145 and the purchase price from the NNPC would reduce from N133.13 per litre to N113.13.
It also recalled that on March 31, 2020, petrol pump price was further adjusted to introduce a retail price band of N123.50 to N125 per litre effective April 1, 2020.
“A secondary consequence of the reduction in PMS prices is the notification by PPPRA of lifting of restrictions on importation of PMS by marketers and that the NNPC shall be required to access US dollars via the same mechanisms as other importers and that dollars shall be allocated by the Central Bank of Nigeria,” Total said.
