Nigeria's state oil firm is insolvent¹, unable to pay debts of $5bn (£3.3bn), a government minister has said.

尼日利亚一位政府大臣称，国有石油公司资不抵债，无力偿还50亿美元债务。

Junior Finance Minister Remi Babalola said the Nigerian National Petroleum² Corporation had asked for help to cover its debts and fund its operations.

But the NNPC denied the claim and said the government was not paying its own debts to the firm.

Nigeria is a major crude oil（原油） producer and exporter but must import refined oil（精炼油） to meet its domestic needs.

"NNPC is insolvent（破产的，无力偿还的） as current liabilities（流动负债，经常性贷款） exceeded current assets by 754bn naira ($5bn)," Mr Babalola said at a government finance meeting.

He said the NNPC owed about $3bn to Nigeria's Federation³ Account, which distributes oil money to varying（不同的，变化的） levels of the country's government.

Discounts

The NNPC rejected Mr Babalola's claim and said it was able to meet its financial obligations.

"We cannot be classified as insolvent when we have healthy cash flow and we can pay for our crude and product import obligations," said NNPC spokesman Levi Ajuonuma.

He said the Nigerian government owed the company more than $7bn in subsidies⁴（补贴，津贴） "which if reimbursed⁵（偿还，赔偿） would enable the NNPC to offset⁶ the... debt being owed the Federation Account Allocation Committee".

The NNPC is plagued（困扰，折磨） by mismanagement and corruption⁷, says the BBC's Caroline Duffield in Lagos.

Despite Nigeria being a major crude oil producer, it must buy almost all the oil it uses on the international market because its own refineries⁸（精炼厂） are insufficient⁹ and dilapidated（荒废的，破坏的） .

The NNPC buys oil at international prices and sells it on to local marketeers at a big discount because Nigerians see cheap petrol as their birthright（与生俱来的权利） , says our correspondent.

President Goodluck Jonathan has promised to tackle corruption in the oil industry. He has sacked（解雇） some officials from the NNPC and ordered an audit¹⁰（审计，查账） of the firm's accounts.

There is also legislation currently before the parliament which would bring sweeping¹¹（彻底的，广泛的） reforms to Nigeria's oil and gas industry.