The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has announced that Nigeria’s oil production has increased to 1.6 million barrels per day.
While still a few million barrels short of the 1.8 million barrels per day quota allocated to Nigeria by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), this increase is an impressive feat that highlights the effectiveness of the NNPCL’s security approach and technology adoption.
At a recent meeting of industry stakeholders, NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive, Mele Kyari, revealed that the rectangular security approach, comprising NNPCL and partners, regulators, government security agencies, and host communities, had helped recover production from the July 2022 levels to the current 1.67 million barrels per day.
Kyari also attributed the success to the adoption of technology, including surveillance tools, the Central Command and Control Centre, and the Whistle-Blowers Portal and Crude Oil Validation Portal, Investors King reports.
Kyari added that one of the most crucial elements of the collaboration was the onboarding of private security contractors from the host communities, who had previously been isolated. The contractors’ in-depth knowledge of the terrain and the criminals’ modus operandi had led to massive discoveries of illegal connections and interception of vessels ferrying stolen crude oil.
These discoveries had contributed to the recovery of previously shut-down facilities and increased the injection of crude oil into major trunklines for evacuation to the terminals.
The meeting, chaired by Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, discussed the challenges of crude oil theft and losses affecting the oil and gas sector. The NNPCL’s approach to these issues has clearly shown positive results and provides a model for the industry to follow.
