Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has revealed that an average of 3 million barrels of crude oil is stolen from the country every month.
Chief Executive, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, who disclosed this at a press briefing, stated that current statistics showed that the volume of oil lost to theft in Nigeria was about 100,000 barrels per day.
He said findings by the commission had also revealed that about 1.2 million barrels of crude oil was consistently shut in by producers across various oil wells in the Niger Delta due to the incessant oil theft in the industry.
He pointed out negative effects of crude oil theft, saying it had incentivised well shut-ins by producers, in the sense that it is not part of their investment model to produce and hand over to thieves.
Komolafe said the commission was engaging with all operators and the target was to have clarity around their operations, whereby it tries to drill down on their work programmes and visibility, based on what is expected from them.
According to him, an operations committee had been set up to identify shut-in wells to be able to have feasibility around the wells that are shut-in.
“So, our engagement is aimed at identifying the wells that could be re-streamed in a manner that we could have some barrels added to our existing production,” he added.
He stated that based on NUPRC’s target of getting about 40 to 50 per cent of the shut-in volumes, the government would be able to add about 500,000 barrels to what the country was currently producing.
“So, our projection is that we can hit over two million barrels and surpass our OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) quota,” he stated.
He stated that based on NUPRC’s engagements with investors in the sector, the commission observed that the oil firms were still willing to restart production in the shut-in wells despite the transition to renewable energy.
Meanwhile, the commission also disclosed that the country’s gas reserves had risen to 208 trillion standard cubic feet.
