Officials in Nigeria discovered an illegal connection line from one of its major oil export terminals into the sea that had been operating undetected for nine years, the head of state oil company NNPC LTD said.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has
uncovered an illegal four-kilometer pipeline from Forcados in Delta State to
the sea and a loading port that was part of an elaborate crude theft operation
for the last nine years.
Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer, NNPC made this
known yesterday when he appeared before a joint senate committee on Upstream,
Downstream and Gas, lamenting that though oil theft in Nigeria has been on for
over 22 years, the rate it has assumed in recent time is unprecedented.
In addition, Kyari revealed that three operational
facilities of Forcados, Bonny and Brass oil terminals have all been shut down
as a result of the high rate of crude oil theft, leading to the loss of about
600, 000 barrels per day (bpd).
“In the last six weeks, there has been a spill site in Bodo
community in River’s state, which may affect the operations of Trans Niger
pipeline if not clamped,” Kyari said.
“Hundred of illegal refineries in the country has led to the
oil spill that made the country lose 120,000 bpd.”
He further stated that, in the course of the clamp down, the
company has destroyed 350 illegal refineries, 273 wooden and 374 reservoirs. In
addition, 1, 561 metal tanks were destroyed while over 49 seized trucks were
burnt among others.
NNPC’s boss said the implications of the destruction is
worse than the Ogoni spillage devastation in the affected areas, which have
decimated agriculture, and fishing in the communities.
He further explained that in addressing the menace, NNPC
carried out aerial surveillance of the affected areas, and observed that the
economic saboteurs carry out their activities unchallenged.
In addition, after over four hours of the interface, the
lawmakers proposed that capital punishment be put in place for offenders, which
will be presented at plenary for consideration.
However, the committee also resolved to embark on oversight
of Port Harcourt and Warri Refineries to verify NNPC’s claims of
Rehabilitation.
Recall that the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory
Commission, in its oil production status report for August 2022, revealed that
Nigeria’s production declined to 972,394 bpd, down 30.22 percent compared to
January’s output.
Also, three months after losing its status as Africa’s
biggest crude oil producer to Angola, Nigeria saw its oil output drop below
that of Libya in August, according to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC).