The figure was announced at the company’s annual general meeting for the year of 2008 and 2009 in Abuja, reports say.

Mr. Austin Oniwon, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, attributed the loss to massive pipleline vandalism by militants before the government had declared amnesty in the Niger Delta region.

Restive youths in the area had once taken up arms to fight for an equitable distribution of the oil wealth garnered by the oil-producing southern part of the country. However, the youths have since laid down their arms through an Amnesty program instituted by the government in 2009.

Massive losses recorded by the NNPC in 2008 and 2009 were blamed on the activities of militants at the time. The report showed that local refineries fell below their programmes which resulted in massive importation of petroleum products to meet domestic demands in 2009.

Mr. Oniwon still assured that despite the challenges faced by the NNPC, the company was still nowhere near bankruptcy.

Part of the PPMC’s mandate, he said, is to ensure the security and supply of Petroleum products to the domestic market at low prices. Nigerians are hopeful that the company will be able to live up to expectations in the year ahead.