The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL) has discovered 4,800 unauthorised connections on 5,000 kilometres of oil pipelines across the country.
This information was shared by Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, during a presentation to the Senate Committee on Appropriations on Friday.
Kyari assured the committee that the oil-related goals outlined in the budget are feasible, even though the country’s daily oil production currently stands at an average of 1.5 million barrels.
He said, “As it is today, about 4,800 illegal connections are made on the over 5,000 oil pipelines across the country.”
“The illegal connections on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta are so rampant that within 100 kilometres of the affected pipelines, 300 insertions are made on them, which eventually made the pipe to be weak to the point of not being able to hold the pressure of oil pumped, let alone delivering it to the targeted destination.”
“Additionally, it is abnormal to engage non-state actors to protect critical assets like oil pipelines. We have, however, responded abnormally and getting results, because unlike it was in July 2022, when less than 1.2 million barrels of oil were produced per day, it has been 1.5 million barrels per day within the last two to three months.”
The Chairman of the committee asked if it was possible to increase the daily oil production projection from 1.78 million to 1.8 million. In response, he confirmed that the parameters and projections in the proposed budget were satisfactory and achievable for the NNPCL.
He also informed the committee that the 1.78 million barrels of oil per day production for the 2024 budget included condensate production ranging from 200,000 to 300,000 barrels per day.
He emphasized that the NNPCL is a fully commercial entity and revealed that the corporation had already paid N406 billion in dividends to the Federation Account between July and November of this year.
