THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has revealed that it has identified over 4,800 illicit connections on oil pipelines in what is a grim picture of the country’s major income earner.
“We have over 4,800 illegal connections on our pipelines. That means in some lines, within 100 kilometres of pipelines, you have as much as 300 insertions,” the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL Mele Kyari told the Senate Committee on Appropriations yesterday.
“Therefore, even when you produce the oil, you cannot deliver them at the required pressure and therefore the volume will also be less.”
According to the NNPCL boss, people come from all over the country to make illegal connections on pipelines in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta region.
The newest development came around a year after the company discovered 295 illicit connections to its pipeline, which exacerbated Nigeria’s enormous crude oil theft.
Kyari stated two years ago that the government was losing 200,000 barrels of oil worth $13 million per day due to vandalism and harm.
“We have two sets of losses, one coming from our products and the other coming from crude oil,” he said. “In terms of crude losses, it is still going on. On the average, we are losing 200,000 barrels of crude every day.”
Following the finding, Nigeria’s security services committed to enhance protection on the country’s pipelines. In order to improve pipeline security, the Federal Government gave Tantita Security Services, led by former militant commander Government Ekpemepulo nicknamed Tompolo, a multi-billion naira pipeline surveillance contract.
Despite criticism, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum, believes the approach was correct.
“I want to also use the opportunity to express our gratitude to Tantita who has been commissioned by the NNPCL to be able to do some work but we are going to do a lot more,” he said in August after a tour of oil facilities in the Niger Delta.
The Petroleum Industry Bill, which was passed in 2021 after years of debate and delays, aims to increase foreign investment in the oil sector by amending regulations, royalties, and taxes.
