NNPC rallies Military as thieves carted away 36.8m barrels between August 2020 and January 2021
The Nigeria’s loss to crude oil theft to has hit $2.024 billion in the last six months.
Group Managing Director of the Nigerina National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, who gave this hint, maintained that corporation loses an average of 200,000 daily to activities of crude oil thieves.
NNPC is a Corporation in charge if Nigeria’s stakes in the oil industry and Mr. Kyari who heads the Corporation spoke when he led top management team to a meeting with the Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Lucky Irabor, at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja.
He maintained that though petroleum products theft on the System 2B Pipeline has reduced considerably due to support from the security agencies, the nation was still losing about 200,000 barrels of crude oil daily to theft and vandalism.
“We have two sets of losses, one coming from our products and the other coming from crude oil. In terms of crude losses, it is still going on. On the average, we are losing 200,000 barrels of crude every day,” a press release issued by Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs division, NNPC, quoted Mallam Kyari to have stated.
In 184 days that made up the months between August 2020 and January 2021, the corporation has lost 36.8 million barrels.
Using the $55 per barrel average price of the commodity at the international oil market for the period, the volume lost amounted to $2.024 billion, checks by Platforms Africa showed.
Meawhile, the Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Irabor, has promised to galvanize the military to provide maximum security for the nation’s oil and gas assets.
Speaking while receiving the GMD, General Irabor commended Mallam Kyari for initiating the engagement, saying: “I am delighted that you made this effort, and I tell you that the Armed Forces of Nigeria will collaborate with you to protect NNPC’s assets”.
General Irabor, who acknowledged the significant role of the oil and gas sector to the economy, said there was need for collaboration between the NNPC and the Armed Forces to protect oil and gas facilities which he described as the critical national assets.
“It is my intention to cooperate maximally with you and to give necessary instructions to all officers in the Armed Forces given that our existence, economically, rests almost solely on the NNPC, and to that extent, we must do everything possible to give you everything that you require,” the CDS stated.
Speaking earlier, the NNPC GMD commended the security agencies for their support and called for more protection for NNPC’s operational assets and personnel.
