Oil Theft Saga – Nigeria Experiences the Lowest Oil Export Levels in Recent History

One of the latest heist facing Nigeria currently is the Oil theft saga dwindling both the economy and the running of government at large and the government of the day can not afford to aloof itself from the consequences now and in the future.

Nigeria’s crude oil exports are at the lowest level in the last 25 years, putting the Nation behind Angola as the continent’s top crude oil exporter and setting a new record in the negative. This is just the latest setback in a long line of setbacks for the nation.

A couple barrels down

This came after it was discovered that, in contrast to its 2 million barrels per day export capacity, the country’s largest export for the year as of January was 1.68 million barrels per day (bpd).

On Sunday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) stated that the current oil heist in Nigeria has costs them 470,000 barrels of crude oil per day which amount to $700 million monthly. As such, most major oil companies operating in Nigeria has stopped producing in other to mitigate the situation which continues uncontrollably.

It was later discovered that said “thieves” vandalized 80% of the oil that oil corporations deposited into authorized pipes, adding to the vicious circle of unrest that is ravaging the country’s economy. When asked his take on the ongoing situation, the country’s president, President Muhammadu Buhari, compared the oil theft to a termite that is devouring the nation’s finances.

Millions lost!

During a recent tour of the NNPCL facilities, Balaa Wunti, Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPMS), said the following: “If you’re producing 30,000 barrels a day, every month, you get 1,940 barrels. So, what it means is that you can take it to 270 every four days. Calculate it in a month. You will have seven cargos on a million barrels. That’s seven million barrels. When you multiply seven million barrels by $100, that is $700 million lost per month, and about 150,000 barrels expected are differed; we are not producing due to security challenges.”

 He said this while also pointing out how many barrels are stolen each day by said “vandals”. stating that due to the continued theft situation, a total of 270 barrels had been unable to be loaded in Bonny.

Additionally, he stated, “I will tell you the major thing that affects us. Nigeria will suffer for it. The revenues are impacted, so we can only appeal to them to rein in themselves. The oil theft situation is regrettable. It’s not going on across the whole of the Niger Delta. There are trunk lines that are more impacted on. I think the Bonny trunk line ranks the highest.”

“Our major challenge as a country is our capability to respond, and that is as a result of several factors; the terrain as well as some incapacity that we have.” He declared.

The nation’s annual total output of oil and gas has since fallen to an alarming level of 1.18 million bpd, according to the most recent data as of August (NUPRC). Based on figures from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), that is Nigeria’s lowest daily average output since at least 1997.

(OPEC) gives in, increases Quota amid ongoing crisis

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and its allies (OPEC+), have increased Nigeria’s crude oil output quota to 1.830 million barrels per day (mb/d), which is a 1.5% increase from what it used to be. However, the Nigerian government has not yet made a decision on how to handle this critical situation.

The Plot Thickens as the NNPC Launches its Hunt for Perpetuators

In a recent interview The CEO of NNPC, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, revealed that between April and August 2022, 122 people had been arrested as a result of the government’s crackdown on oil theft.

He asserts that security personnel found 179 wooden boats, 355 cooking pots, 959 metal tanks, 37 trucks, 452 dugout trenches, 342 illegal oil reservoirs, and 355 cooking pots, 30 speedboats, and 11 other boats were utilized by vandals to carry out their illegal activities in the Niger Delta oil-producing areas.

35.8 million liters of crude oil, 22 million liters of automobile gas oil, 150,000 liters of gasoline, and 760,000 liters of kerosene were therefore recovered and destroyed throughout the course of the five months under review.

He also defended the government’s decision to employ private companies to protect the country’s network of oil pipelines by pointing out that, in one instance, at least 295 illicit connections were discovered on a 200-kilometer section of pipeline.

“As you may be aware, because of the very unfortunate acts of vandals along our major pipelines from Atlas Cove all the way to Ibadan, and all the others connecting all the 37 depots that we have across the country, none of them can take delivery of products today.”

“And the reason is very simple. For some of the lines, for instance, from Warri to Benin, we haven’t operated that line for 15 years. Every molecule of product that we put in gets lost. And of course, you remember the tragic fire incident very close to Warri, close to Sapele, that killed so many people.”

“So, we had to shut it down and as we speak, the level of losses that we have on our product pipeline, I’m sure you may have seen it, and I’ll invite you at the right time so we can take a look at it jointly.” Said Kyari.

He referred to the fire breakout that occurred in the Lagos region by saying, “In one of our pipelines, we discovered that some of the pipelines were actually connected to individual homes. And not only that, and with all sensitivity to our religious beliefs, you know, some of the pipelines and some of the products that we found were actually in churches and in mosques.”

“That means that everybody is involved. There is no way you will take products, bring them in trucks into populated neighborhoods, load them and leave without everybody else knowing about it.”

“That everybody includes members of the community, members of the religious leadership and also, most likely, government officials of all natures, including security agency personnel.”

” They are everywhere. And I’ve seen this even in the Niger Delta. There’s no way you would deliver a volume and lose up to 30 per cent and you will continue to put that product in this line.”

In conclusion, Mr. Kyari revealed that the NNPCL had found 35.8 million liters of the stolen crude oil, 22 million liters of diesel, 0.15 million liters of gasoline, and 0.76 million liters of kerosene.

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