The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) Mele Kyari has claimed that the scale of oil theft in the Niger Delta, following the discovery of several illegal pipes, had significantly reduced.
Kyari made the claim during his address on the second day of the PENGASSAN Energy and Labour Summit, on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to him, cooperation with security agencies has significantly reduced oil theft and the country would have access to more crude and revenue, in the coming weeks.
The new assertion made by the NNPCL’s boss comes barely two weeks after he told the Senate’s joint committees on Gas and Petroleum (Upstream and Downstream) that a reality test showed the country was losing up to 600 barrels of crude per day (bpd).
“As a result of oil theft, Nigeria loses about 600,000 barrels per day, which is not healthy for the nation’s economy, and in particular, the legal operators in the field, which had led to a close down of some of their operational facilities,” Kyari had said.
He also disclosed that oil theft in the country had been going on for over 22 years, but had assumed an unprecedented dimension and rate in recent times, adding that aerial surveillance carried out by the Corporation of the affected areas revealed that “the economic saboteurs carrying out their activities unchallenged and unperturbed”.
Meanwhile, authorities say 395 illegal refineries have been deactivated, 49 trucks seized and 274 reservoirs and 1,561 metal tanks destroyed so far.
A civil rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has alleged that there was a deliberate attempt to cover up the involvement of military personnel in oil theft in the Niger Delta region.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator Emmanuel Onwubiko, corroborating the position of Human Rights Lawyer Femi Falana, described “as sacrilegious, contemptible and scandalous”, the justification by the military, of the destruction of a vessel loaded with stolen crude oil in the Niger Delta area and has called for a probe.
The vessel with registration number L85 B9.50, was arrested two Thursdays ago, by a combined team from the Nigerian Navy and a private pipeline surveillance team, Tantita Security Services led by a former militant leader, Government Ekpemepulo, popularly known as Tompolo.
The vessel was apprehended close to Escravos in Warri South West Local government area of Delta state with seven crew members onboard and about 600 cubic metres of illegally lifted crude oil.
HURIWA called for the constitution of a judicial panel of inquiry on the oil bunkering vessel after the military claimed that the swift destruction was in line with the “rules of engagements”.
Nigeria is also facing gas and revenue shortages as the Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited declared force majeure on its 22 million tons per annum (mtpa) processing plant due to widespread flooding that has disrupted gas supply to the company.
“The notice by the gas suppliers was a result of high floodwater levels in their operational areas, leading to a shut-in of gas production which has caused significant disruption of gas supply to NLNG,” NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development Andy Odeh said.
He added that NLNG was determining the extent of the disruption in order to mitigate its impact on the economy.