The activities of pipeline vandals and oil thieves are taking a toll on the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as the oil firm suffered 1,447 incidents of pipeline breaches between January and May 2016.
The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, who disclosed this during a visit to the Commandant-General, Nigerian Security Civil Defense Corps, Abudullahi Muhammadu, at the corps headquarters in, also said the corporation lost 560,000 barrels of crude meant for the refineries, as well as feedstock and 109 million litres of petroleum products, within the same period.
Baru, in a statement from the corporation said, “The 2016 National Budget Plan was based on 2.2 million barrels per day of crude oil production. However, the budget plan is now grossly impacted due to renewed militancy with 700,000 bpd of oil production curtailed due to pipeline vandalism.”
He said in 2015 alone, there were 3,000 of such incidents translating to over 643 million litres or N51.28 billion.
He further disclosed that between 2010 and 2015 the Corporation recorded 18, 000 of such incidences.
“Domestic natural gas supply to power is equally impacted with estimated drop of about 50 percent resulting to significant power outage. Petroleum products supply and distribution pipelines have also suffered huge products losses with attendant cost of repairs.
“For example, over 3,000 vandalism incidents were recorded every year from 2010 to 2015. In 2015 alone, pipeline losses of products volume of over 643 million litres amounting to N51.28 billion were incurred”, he said.
He added: “The 2016 National Budget plan was based on 2.2 million barrels per day of crude oil production. However, the budget plan is now grossly impacted due to renewed militancy with 700,000 bpd of oil production curtailed due to pipeline vandalism”.
While seeking the support of NSCDC, NNPC Boss, Baru noted that the corps “being a grassroots paramilitary agency is much closer to our facilities than any of the security agencies in the country”.
