Three of Nigeria's four refineries gulped N1.64 trillion in cumulative losses recorded in their operations since 2014, details from the first-ever audited accounts and financial statements of the companies published by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Friday has shown.

Findings showed all the refineries spent huge earnings on administrative expenses, which included head office overhead funding, Public Relations and publicity, staff training expenses, local/international travels and hotels, employee benefits, director's remuneration, and consultancy fees.

The expenses that contributed to the losses included auditor's remuneration N50 million in 2018 and N30 million in 2017; employee benefits N13.9 billion, down from N27.3 billion in 2017; refinery assets N11.4 billion and N73.4 billion in 2017; staff bus N90.7 million and N85.1 million in 2017.

Details contained in the five years audited report and financial statements published by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Friday showed in 2014 the refinery recorded a total comprehensive loss for the year of N34.1 billion; N35 6 billion in 2015; N30.2 billion in 2016; N111.9 billion in 2017 and N64.3 billion in 2018.

Although the statement showed the company had as revenue N1.99 billion in 2018 and N1.3 billion in 2017, the cost of sales gulped about N12.7 billion in 2018 and N14.5 billion in 2017, with total operating loss at N45.4 billion in 2018 and N85.1 billion in 2017.