The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has discovered 395 illegal oil refineries among other illegal assets.
At the Senate briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, the Chairman of NNPCL discloses that the company has discovered and shut down 395 illegal oil refineries. He also noted that 273 wood boats were taken down while 374 illegal oil reservoirs were destroyed.
Mele Kyari noted that serious actions are being undertaken to curtail oil theft in the Niger Delta region.
“We have deactivated 395 illegal refineries; we have taken down 273 wooden boats, we have destroyed 374 illegal reservoirs, we destroyed 1,561 metal tanks.” Mele Kyari said.
He added, “We have seized over 49 trucks and burnt them down; we have discovered illegal oil pits of 898 so far, and, 219 cooking sites have been taken down.”
Addressing the senate committee, Mele Kyari noted a criminal enterprise of such magnitude can cripple the oil revenue.
The NNPC chairman also disclosed that they had caught wind of an illegal connection of four kilometres route into the sea running from its major Forcados line, which he estimates has been around for 9 years.
Investors King had earlier reported in September that for the first time in five years, Nigeria lost its crown as Africa’s largest oil producer to Angola.
According to the Managing Director and Country Chair for Shell, Mr Osagie Okunbor, oil theft was one of the reasons why Nigeria could not meet its OPEC quota of 1.8 million barrels a day.
Similarly, the head of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe said in a statement that about 141 million barrels of oil were produced in the first quarter of 2022, but only about 132 million barrels of oil were received at export terminals.
Meanwhile, Kyari has proposed capital punishment for oil thieves and pipeline vandals. He noted that oil thieves are the country’s enemy and they should be treated as such.