Senators fault NNPC Ltd on security of pipelines
…As NNPC Ltd GCEO laments vandalisation of over 5,000km of pipelines
The Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) has faulted the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on the security measures put in place to protect crude oil pipelines in the country.
At an interactive session with the NNPC Ltd Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Mr Mele Kolo Kyari, the Chairman of the committee, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (APC Anambra South) as well as other committee members, faulted the submissions made by the NNPC Ltd boss.
They argued that a proper assessment of the challenges of the sector and solutions to such problems can better be handled at a retreat.
Speaking also, Senator Seriake Dickson (PDP Bayelsa West), told the NNPC boss to look critically at the surveillance security contract the company is operating as regards the non-inclusion of some oil-producing areas.
Dickson said, “Some local governments in Bayelsa State like Sagbama where I come from, are not covered by the contract with attendant consequences.”
Meanwhile, Kyari lamented that the operations of the company are being adversely affected by the activities of vandals who he said have vandalised over 5,000 kilometres of oil pipelines across the country.
According to the NNPC Ltd GCEO, “Oil pipeline vandalism has been a major challenge facing the sector over several decades noting that the company had been unable to pump oil through pipelines from Warri to Benin within the last 22 years.
“Over 5,000 kilometres of oil pipelines in the country are not working. As a result of pipeline vandalism, 10 million litres of oil were lost from the volume pumped from Aba to Enugu at a time. The company has been unable to pump oil from Warri to Benin within the last 22 years and cannot connect to Ore.
“There is no amount of security measures that have not been taken to curb the crime without success, which to us in NNPCL, is substantially a national calamity.”
He, however, said as a way out, the company is embarking on massive replacement of the pipelines which aside from being vandalised, are old and obsolete.
Kyari further explained that the deregulation of the oil sector and in particular, subsidy removal, which was carried out in May 2023, has turned NNPCL into a profitable company.
He maintained that before deregulation in 2018, the company posted a loss of N802 billion but after deregulation in 2021, it recorded an excess profit of N687 billion.
The CEO explained that while 67 million litres of oil were consumed per day during the era of the subsidy regime, an average of 55 million litres is currently being consumed daily.
According to him, the smuggling of product products across our borders has become a thing of the past.
