The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, has lamented that oil theft is shrinking Nigeria’s revenue earnings.
It is also threatening the NNPC’s quest for energy security for the country,he said.
The theft of crude oil has been having a negative effect on the revenue of the Federal Government and has been denying the country the much-needed fund to boost economic development,he added
He spoke at the 5th quadrennial delegates’ conference in Asaba, Delta State,where he sought the assistance of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, the National Association of Road Transport Owners, and other stakeholders in the oil and gas sector to tackle crude oil theft in the Niger Delta region.
He regretted that the impact of pipeline vandalism had reduced the capacity of the country to meet its oil production quota,stressing that currently, Nigeria was producing less than 1.5 million barrels per day of crude oil.
He expressed that it was high time Kyari NUPENG and NARTO collaborate with the NNPC to nip in the bud the perennial oil theft in Nigeria.
He said:“You can see the trouble that we have and what it has caused all of us. But more than these comrades, our local industry is terribly challenged and you may be aware, we have seen vandalism around our areas of operations, not just in the Niger Delta but across other corridors of product supply.Activities of oil thieves have got to a level that we haven’t seen before, almost bringing down this industry to its knees today.
“As we speak now, our production 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 making more and more sustainable employment becomes a challenge, no doubt about it.That is why all of us must practically come together to see how we can contend with it. There is so much going on now. We are leading a process to ensure that we intervene in the security matter”