Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, has disclosed that Nigeria lost about N434 billion to oil theft between January and March 2022.
He said out of about 141 million barrels of crude oil the country produced during the period, about nine million barrels were lost to crude oil theft.
At an average price of about $116 per barrel at the international crude oil market, and an official exchange rate of N415/$, the loss is about N434 billion.
He also said that only about 1.35 million barrels or 71 per cent of the 1.9 million barrels that Nigeria produces, all things being equal, gets to the crude oil export terminals due to massive theft and pipeline vandalism.
Komolafe stated this at the Iwereland Petroleum Communities Summit on the implementation of the Host Communities’ Development Trust in oil producing Itsekiri communities under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 hosted by the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III.
The regulator said the challenge was hindering Nigeria from meeting its crude oil output capacity, causing it to under-produce for months now and been unable to meet the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota and also means not able to reap the full benefits of the rising oil prices as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war.
He lamented that the money lost to oil theft could have been deployed for development of social projects like hospitals, schools, roads, provision of electricity and potable water, to improve the quality of life of the people.
He said the sabotage of oil and gas facilities had also resulted in additional remediation cost to the government as well as environmental degradation from oil spills.
In addition, he listed soil and water pollution, threat to human life, source of livelihood, wildlife and marine life (fishes) and crops as some of the impacts of the increasing theft of Nigeria’s oil.
These losses, he said, underscored the need for the government to optimise oil and gas resources development and production through the passage to law of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) after more than 20 years.
