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NNPC seeks joint battle against crude oil theft

Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, Mele Kyari said yesterday that stakeholders in the oil and gas sector should intensify efforts to end crude oil theft.

He solicited the support of the National Association of Petroleum and Engineering Gas Workers, National Association of Road Transport Owners and others to tackle crude oil theft in Niger Delta.

Kyari spoke yesterday at a conference in Asaba, Delta State organised by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).

He said the theft of crude oil is denying the country funding to boost economic development.

A report released last month during a meeting on crude oil theft between Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Oil Producers Trade Section and Independent Petroleum Producers Group, showed that between January 2021 and this February, Nigeria lost about $3.2 billion to crude oil theft.

President Muhammadu Buhari subsequently ordered the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, and other security chiefs to combat crude oil theft.

The report added that oil theft rose significantly between 2021 and 2022, with over 90 per cent of total crude produced at the Bonny Terminal stolen in January.

Kyari said:  “You can see the short trouble that we have and what it has caused all of us. But more than this, our locally industries are terribly challenged and you may be aware, we have seen vandal activities around our areas of operations not just in Niger Delta but across other corridors of product supply.

“Activities of oil thieves have got to a limit we haven’t seen before, almost bringing down this industry to its knees.

“As we speak, our production total is less than 1.5 million barrels per day. This no doubt will affect the investing companies, they will not have the resources to continue to invest and therefore make more and more sustainable employment to become a challenge, no doubt about it.

“That is why all of us must practically come together to see how we can contain it. There is so much going on now. We are leading a process to ensure that we intervene in the security matter.

“We want to ensure that everybody is involved so that ultimately we are able to get back this industry or otherwise this industry will collapse on our hands and if it does, we will not be talking about employment and this is the reality we are facing today.

“You are very critical in stopping some of the situation today because when people steal products and they convert them to diesel, they will use your trucks to bring them into the country.

“And you can play a very prominent role to stop some of these transactions going on and I really implore all of us to come on the desk so that this industry can survive.

“We are partners and workers in the industry and NNPC is here to protect and preserve every institution that is helping this industry to grow and survive.

On the issue of energy transition, Kyari said that this concept does not mean that oil will disappear by 2050.

He said what the concept of energy transition means is that countries should start embracing cleaner sources of energy that are friendlier to the environment.

He added that NNPC “is also championing this initiative by shifting more attention to gas production which is a cleaner source of energy than fossil fuel.”

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