• Govt recorded a shortfall, CBN asserts
• Amaechi put losses to vandalism at N20b
WIDE gaps exist on two reports produced by the United States (U.S.) and the Federal Government on Nigeria’s earnings from oil in the first half and nine months of 2010.
While the American report showed that Nigeria topped other eight members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in revenue earning with an income of $48 billion (N7.2 trillion) from January to September, thus exceeding its 2010 revenue projections, the government said it recorded a revenue shortfall from January to June this year.
In the U.S. report, Nigeria is closely followed by Kuwait, which garnered $42 billion and Angola, $41 billion. But Saudi Arabia with $146 billion and Iraq ($52 billion), United Arab Emirate (UAE) beat Nigeria to the fourth place in the oil income chart.
The figures released by Energy Information Administration (IEA) of the U.S. Department of Energy, showed that the amount is N500 billion higher than the N6.7 trillion it earned from the sector last year.
With these earnings from oil alone, Nigeria has overshot its 2010 budget of N4.07 trillion by N2.6 trillion.   
But the government’s report for the first six months of 2010 put the earnings from oil mineral resources and non-oil revenue such as taxes and duties at N3.273 trillion. Of the amount, oil mineral proceeds accounted for N2.45 trillion while the balance represents the non-oil minerals receipts.
According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), N1.561 trillion, representing a shortfall of 22.4 per cent from the proportionate budget estimate, accounted for collections in the first quarter while N1.712 trillion representing a shortfall of 22.4 per cent from the proportionate budget estimate represented earnings for the second quarter.
The U.S. report added that Nigeria generated over N31 trillion from the oil sector in the last 10 years. In 2007, the oil income was N4.5 trillion, N6.7 trillion in 2008 and N1.2 trillion in 2009.
The report puts the “oil export earnings in the first nine months of 2010 at $48 billion for Nigeria, $42 billion for Kuwait, $41 billion for Angola, $40 billion for Algeria, $35 billion for Iraq, $32 billion for Libya, $30 billion for Venezuela, $26 billion for Qatar, and around $5 billion for Ecuador.”
According to the report, OPEC earned $547 billion (N82 trillion) in the same period compared with nearly $402 billion in the first nine months of 2009.
The report further showed that Saudi Arabia, the world’s oil powerhouse, which pumps nearly a third of OPEC's crude supply, was the top earner in the cartel, with around $146 billion in the first nine months of 2010, surpassing the income of around $137 billion it achieved through 2009.
Iran, the second largest producer in OPEC, netted nearly $52 billion during January-September this year against $48 billion during 2009.
The EIA’s projections showed OPEC’s total income would surge by nearly 30 per cent to $751 billion through 2010 from around $571 billion during 2009.
The new forecasts for 2010 are nearly $10 billion higher than earlier projections as EIA apparently expects higher crude prices and output by OPEC.
EIA gave no reason for the revenue surge in the first nine months but analysts attributed it to a large increase in crude prices, which averaged above $70 a barrel, $20 higher than the average oil price in the first nine months of 2009.
According to the analysts, oil prices could average more than $70 this year compared with nearly $60 a barrel in 2009, citing the recent surge in prices above $80 and OPEC's decision to keep its output ceiling unchanged.
This is contained in the apex bank’s first and second quarters Economic Reports.
The report indicated that at N1,156.73 billion, oil receipts, which constituted 74.1 per cent of the total revenue for the first quarter fell short of the proportionate budget estimate by 20.9 per cent, but rose by 23.6 per cent over the receipts in the preceding quarter.
The under-performance in oil receipts in the quarter relative to the proportionate budget estimate, according to the report was largely attributed to the fall in petroleum profit tax and royalties.
Similarly, non-oil receipts, at N404.86 billion or 25.9 per cent of the total was lower than the proportionate budget estimate and the receipts in the preceding quarter by 26.4 and 7.0 per cent in that order. The shortfall relative to the proportionate budget estimate reflected largely the fall in customs and excise duties and company income tax and other taxes.
It said the government-retained revenue for the first quarter of 2010 was N599.82 billion, while total expenditure was N877.35 billion. Thus, the fiscal operations of the Federal Government resulted in a deficit of N277.54 billion or 4.3 per cent of estimated nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for first quarter 2010, compared with the budgeted deficit of N380.48 billion for the review quarter and a surplus of N32.56 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2009.
For the N1.712 trillion second quarter collection, the CBN said it represented a shortfall of 22.4 per cent from the proportionate budget estimate, but an increase of 10.9 and 63.8 per cent over the receipts in the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2009.
It gave further insight into the revenue profile for the quarter: “At N1,288.7 billion, oil receipts, which constituted 75.3 per cent of the total, fell short of the proportionate budget estimate by 11.9 per cent, but rose by 11.4 and 85.0 per cent over the receipts in the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2009. The decline in oil receipts relative to the proportionate budget estimate, was largely attributed to the fall in receipts from crude oil and gas exports as well as petroleum profit tax and royalties. Similarly, non-oil receipts, at N404.86 billion or 25.9 per cent of the total, was lower than the proportionate budget estimate, but rose above the levels in the preceding quarter and corresponding quarter of 2009 by 9.4 and 21.5 per cent, in that order. The shortfall relative to the proportionate budget estimate reflected largely the decline in company income tax, customs and excise duties, customs special levies and independent revenue of the Federal Government.
“Federal Government retained revenue for the second quarter of 2010 was N827.74 billion, while total expenditure was N977.7 billion. Thus, the fiscal operations of the Federal Government resulted in a deficit of N149.96 billion or 2.3 per cent of estimated nominal GDP for Q2 2010, compared with the budgeted deficit of N387.70 billion and N243.76 billion for the quarter under review and the corresponding quarter of 2009.
The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) plans to convene a stakeholders’ parley on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) with a view to resolving the disagreements over the bill before its passage.
NNPC Group Managing Director (GMD), Austen Oniwon, at the Oil and Gas Policy Dialogue Session at the 16th Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in Abuja yesterday, who disclosed this, debunked insinuations that the reported decline in new investments in the industry was due to uncertainties over the PIB. He stated that the decline was a fall-out of the militancy-induced disruptions in the Niger Delta region, which led to a remarkable decline in Nigeria’s oil production.
Meanwhile, Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State has disclosed that between 2001 and 2006, the nation has lost over $20 billion potential revenue to pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta region.
Amaechi in his lecture at the 2010 distinguished personality lecture of the Peace and Conflict Studies Programme of the University of Ibadan (UI) blamed the Federal Government and the oil companies for the financial loss.
The governor who was represented at the event by his Deputy, Tele Ikuru said the indifference of the government to the plight of the people of the region coupled with the insensitivity of the operating oil companies led to the restiveness of youths in the area.