Between 2017 and 2021, Nigeria lost 208.639 million barrels of crude oil valued at $12.74 million or N4.325 trillion. This is the period the erstwhile president Muhammadu Buhari-led administration held power.
Ogbonnaya Orji, executive secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) said this at the Nigeria International Pipeline Technology and Security Conference, held in Abuja. Speaking on the topic ‘Bolstering Regulations, Technology and Security for Growth,’ Orji said that oil theft and losses in Nigeria had become a national emergency.
“NEITI reports also disclosed that during the same period Nigeria spent N471.493bn to either repair or maintain pipelines,” he said. The oil and gas sector, he said, accounted for Nigeria’s total export and foreign exchange, 40.55 per cent of government revenue, and provided 19,171 jobs.
“However, for us in NEITI, it is not a matter of debate that despite the strategic contributions, the country is yet to derive optimal benefits from its oil and gas resources due to oil theft and losses through pipeline vandalism, pipeline integrity compromise, outright sabotage, and general insecurity in the region.
“From NEITI’s reports over the years, and recently insights from our membership of the Special Investigative Panel on Oil Theft and Losses, we are aware that oil theft is perpetrated mainly through pipeline clamping, illegal connections on major pipelines, exploitation of abandoned oil wellheads, pipeline breakages and vandalism of key national assets to illegally siphon crude into waiting vessels stationed in strategic terminals.
“This criminal exploits take place most times in atmosphere of communities’ complicity and conspiracy of silence,” the NEITI boss stated.
He stressed that it was also a matter of fact that many members of the pipelines association were directly and indirectly involved in providing the skills and knowledge required to perpetrate oil theft.
“As you are aware, illegal connections, pipeline clamping, etc, cannot be done by just anybody. And so, your association is largely complicit by failing to put in place stringent regulation and appropriate sanctions to check involvement of your members.
“For instance, NEITI has put in the public domain empirical data of oil theft and losses at 619.7 million barrels of crude, valued at $46.16bn or N16.25tn between 2009 and 2020.
“In addition, Nigeria lost 4.2 billion litres of petroleum products from refineries, valued at $1.84bn at the rate of 140,000 barrels per day, from 2009 to 2018.
“Thus, the total value of crude losses between 2009 and 2020 is higher than the size of the country’s foreign reserves and almost 10 times Nigeria’s oil savings in Excess Crude Account,” Orji stated.
Orji said optimistically that oil theft, pipeline vandalism, and general insecurity in the oil producing communities would hinder Nigeria’s growth.
