The Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said Nigeria lost crude oil valued at over N376 billion to constant theft from vandalised pipelines within the last five years.
The Managing Director of PPMC, Prince Haruna Momoh, who was represented by PPMC’s Executive Director in charge of Commercials, Mr. Frank Amedo, stated this during a presentation he made at the just concluded workshop journalists in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state.
Momoh said that from about 497 break points recorded on the various sections of its pipeline in 2009, the company had within the period witnessed a steady rise in the number breaks on its pipeline.
According to him, the break points on its pipeline system increased yearly from 497 in 2009 to 3,591 in 2013.
He stated that acts of pipeline vandalism had become rampant in Nigeria and insisted that since it cost the country so much in terms resources to combat, it should be considered as security risks and economic sabotage.
Momoh equally noted that the threat required increased proactive measures to combat, irrespective of extant measures that had been initiated by the government, adding that the country should strive to avoid adopting the option of electronic surveillance mechanism on the pipelines, which is considered a futuristic and expensive approach.
Also in his remarks, the Coordinator, Corporate Planning and Strategy at the NNPC, Dr. Tim Okon, explained that while the NNPC did not get budgetary grants for repair of its vandalized pipelines system, the cooperation did not equally benefit from bridging petroleum products through its pipelines in the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF) scheme.
The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, also said at the workshop that the corporation was waiting for official clearance from NIMASA and other regulatory agencies to commence legal bunkering of crude oil in the country.
Yakubu said NNPC was waiting for clearance from NIMASA, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and other related agencies of the government to commence operations in crude oil bunkering, adding that the corporation planned to commence bunkering operations in the country by October after all the necessary clearance must have been obtained.
