Oil companies pay fines of N1.8bn

ayodele johnson

January 19, 2016 5:54 AM

Despite warnings issued by the Federal Government, oil firms have continued with the practice of gas flaring

FG prohibits gas flaring

For defying the Federal Government’s directives on gas flaring, oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria were fined N1.81 billion in nine months between January and September 2015.

Despite several strict warnings issued by the Federal Government, the companies have continued with the practice.

According to the CBN Third Quarter Statistical Bulletin, oil firms paid N670 million as penalties for gas flaring that in the first quarter of 2015, while N790 million and N350 million were paid as penalty in the second and third quarters respectively.

READ: Nigeria’s oil fields in danger of shutdown amid price slump

The Federal Government earned N424.27 billion and N310 million as royalties and rent respectively, from the oil companies in the nine-month period.

Also, the bulletin revealed that total federally-collected revenue stood at ¦ 1.752 trillion in Q1 compared to ¦ 1.303 trillion in Q2 and ¦ 2.481 trillion in Q3 2014.

This represents an increase of ¦ 449.06 billion or 34.45 percent, but a decrease of ¦ 728.18 billion or 29.35 per cent, when compared with the levels of the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2014, respectively.

ayodele johnson