Federal Government’s earnings from crude oil and gas export rose by 43.90 per cent to $52.87billion (about N24.32trillion) between January and November, last year, compared with $36.74billion in the corresponding period of 2021, latest data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) shows. New Telegraph’s analysis of the apex bank’s economic reports for the eleven months indicates that crude oil and gas export receipts, which account for about 90 per cent of Nigeria’s total export, were generally higher last year compared to 2021, due to a rebound in global demand and improved commodity prices. For instance, the CBN data shows that the Federal Government raked in $30.89billion from crude oil and gas exports in H1’22, as against the $17.70billion that it earned in the first six months of the preceding year. Also, the data indicates that the government earned a total of $21.98billion from crude oil and gas exports between July and November, last year, compared with $19.04billion in the corresponding period of 2021. However, the CBN’s economic report for November 2022 shows that the country’s earnings from crude oil and gas exports declined relative to the preceding month’s numbers. The report stated: “Crude oil and gas export receipts declined, due to weaker demand, amid recessionary fears in developed countries and COVID-19 restrictions in China, leading to lower crude oil prices. “Crude oil and gas export receipts declined to $3.90 billion from $4.30 billion in October. A breakdown reveals that crude oil export receipts fell by 9.0 per cent to $3.30 billion, from $3.65 billion in the preceding month. The decrease was driven by the fall in the price of Nigeria’s reference crude, the Bonny Light, by 3.3 per cent to an average of $93.36pb, relative to $96.57pb in October. “Similarly, gas export receipts declined by 6.0 per cent to $0.60 billion, from $0.64 billion in October. In terms of share in total export, crude oil and gas accounted for 90.2 per cent. Of the total crude oil and gas export, oil constitutes 84.6 per cent, while gas accounts for 15.4 per cent.” New Telegraph reports that, in November, CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said that foreign exchange inflows from crude oil sales into the country’s external reserves had steadily dried up from above $3 billion monthly in 2014 to $0 currently. The CBN Governor said the development was the main reason the country’s foreign exchange reserves generally headed south for most of last year, thus making the apex bank’s task of defending the naira very challenging. Analysts note that while Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest crude oil producers, the country’s inability to ensure that its four refineries, with a combined capacity of 445,000 barrels per day (bpd), efficiently process oil, has meant that it depends heavily on petroleum products imports. So, even when external shocks, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 2022, lead to a significant increase in oil prices, Nigeria is unable to fully benefit from the situation as it spends huge amounts on imported petroleum products annually. Indeed, an analysis of CBN’s data shows that the country spent a total of $12.44billion on imported petroleum products in the first 10 months of 2022. In a report released in November, analysts at FBNQuest Research had predicted that if the external reserves maintained their downward trend, they might fall to slightly below $36billion by the end of December last year. The analysts had stated: “Nigeria’s gross official reserves declined by $866m to $37.4bn in October. The level of attrition is the second highest since May of this year and follows a decrease of $772m in September. “The sharp drop in the fx reserves is mostly due to the CBN’s increased interventions on the various fx windows, such as the investors and exporters (I&E), and the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) windows, following the difficulties with fx supply. Despite the high level of crude oil prices, the external reserves have seen very little accretion from oil sales this year, due to the sector’s low productivity as a result of large-scale crude oil theft.” They further said: “Total reserves for Nigeria as at end- October covered 8.5 months of merchandise imports based on the balance of payments for the 12 months to June 2022, and 6.5 months,” when services are added.