“Nigeria in Trouble”: NNPC Traces Illegal Oil Pipelines to Churches, Mosques, Palaces

• The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has said it has discovered illegal pipes running through worship places and palaces
• Olufemi Soneye, the NNPC spokesman, said that oil theft remains a huge challenge for Nigeria
• He said that Nigeria can increase oil production from the current 1.7 million barrels per day to three million barrels

Legit.ng’s Pascal Oparada has reported on tech, energy, stocks, investment and the economy for over a decade.

The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has sounded the alarm about the large scale of oil theft in Nigeria, saying it has traced illegal oil pipelines to places of worship and traditional places such as palaces.

The company also said that the rising crude oil production from 1.7 million barrels per day to three million barrels is possible.

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Large vessels stealing crude from Nigeria

NNPC Chief Corporate Communications Officer Olufemi Soneye disclosed this during a stakeholder engagement session with the National Assembly Press Corp in Abuja.

Soneye noted that several challenges in the oil sector must be tackled if the country must survive.

He narrated how a vessel arrested for oil theft by the NNPC was rearrested three months later, saying that the low prosecution rate of criminals sabotages efforts to fight crime.

The Guardian reports that Soneye described the situation as worrisome, saying the prosecution rate of those stealing oil is very abysmal, which accounts for the widespread theft in the oil industry.

According to him, the NNPC finds it challenging, which is why the company engaged private security firms.

Lamenting the widespread oil bunkering in the country, Soneye said the military and law enforcement agencies are doing their best. 

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The prosecution rate of oil thieves is meagre

The NNPC spokesman said there is no country in the world where non-state actors protect national assets, noting that Nigeria once produced 900,000 barrels of oil daily.

The NNPC said about 8,000 illegal refineries have been destroyed in the last six months.

The state oil firm also disclosed that 5,800 illegal pipeline connections were found and destroyed in the same period.

Marketers move to break NNPC monopoly

Legit.ng earlier reported that independent petroleum marketers had started direct talks with the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos to break NNPC’s monopoly in the petroleum sector, especially in distributing Dangote petrol.

The oil marketers have expressed hope that they could lift petrol directly from the Dangote refinery as the product’s scarcity continues.

Checks reveal that many petrol stations in Abuja are still shut down due to scarcity three months later.

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Proofread by Kola Muhammed, journalist and copyeditor at Legit.ng

Source: Legit.ng