The increase in oil theft in Nigeria, according to Group Managing Director of NNPC Limited Mele Kyari, has prevented the Petroleum Industry Act from working to its full potential.
“The devastating rate of oil theft in Nigeria has reached an unprecedented level putting holes in the federal purse”.
Mr. Kyari disclosed this when he appeared before the Senate’s Joint Committee on Petroleum to give updates on the Petrol Crisis and interventions made so far.
He noted that the activities of pipeline vandals and thieves have become a thriving industry which has pushed down
the country’s production capacity.
“The act of vandals and thieves have brought down our production from what we knew last year to today, hovering around 1.2 million barrels per day”.
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“Our major trump lines, the trans number five line, the NCTL, were all shut down because no one will continue to produce
when you know that those production will not get to the Terminus.
The GMD said the NNPCL is already making efforts to solve
this crisis but requires the intervention of the National Assembly by way of legislation.
Mr Kyari also noted that the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries is still a work in
progress.
Richard Kennedy, Managing Director of Chevron Nigeria/Mid Africa Business Unit, has described oil theft as “organized crime.” The only way out of the shady oil scam – the heinous economic sabotage – is to find those responsible and bring them to justice as soon as possible.
According to Gbenga Komolafe, the head of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), crude oil theft cost Nigeria a staggering $1 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2022. Crude oil theft increased from 103,000 barrels per day in 2021 to approximately 108,000 barrels per day on average in the first quarter of 2022.
It is saddening that Nigeria has not been able to reap maximum benefit from the rise in crude oil price occasioned by the Russia-Ukraine war. With the global oil price falling to $95 a barrel over plans to restore Iran nuclear deal, the Nigerian government must be held accountable for its inability to bring to book the perpetrators of the economic infamy, resulting in such a humongous loss to the public exchequer.
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