“We Discovered Illegal Pipelines Stealing Oil For Nine Years” – NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited claims to have discovered an illicit oil connection from Forcados Terminal that has been utilized for oil theft for nine years.

Mele Kyari, the NNPC CEO, said this during a meeting of the Senate’s joint committee on gas and petroleum (Upstream and Downstream).

Kyari said, “Oil theft in the country has been going on for over 22 years but the dimension and rate it assumed in recent times is unprecedented.”

He claimed that during a crackdown in the past six weeks, a four-kilometre illegal oil connection line from Forcados Terminal into the sea that had been in use for nine years was discovered.

He added that practically zero production was being achieved at the Brass, Forcados, and Bonny terminals.

He said, “The combined effect is that you have lost 600,000 barrels per day when you do a reality test.

“As a result of oil theft, Nigeria loses about 600,000 barrels per day, which is not healthy for the nation’s economy, and in particular, the legal operators in the field, which had led to a close down of some of their operational facilities.”

Members of the committees proposed that those caught perpetrating oil theft be made to face the death penalty, which is scheduled to be discussed in plenary.