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NNPCL records 179 oil theft incidents in one week

THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) said it uncovered 179 incidents of crude oil theft in the past week.

The last incidents were revealed in a recent video shared by the NNPCL on its official X handle, stating that the incidents occurred between January 11 and 17 across the Niger Delta region.

Crude oil theft and vandalism have continued to hamper the state-owned energy firm’s production targets and destroyed its decade infrastructure, thereby leading to revenue loss for the country.

In the video, NNPCL reported that 29 illegal pipeline connections and 55 illegal refineries were uncovered within one week.

“Between the 11th and 17th of January 2025, a total of 179 incidents were recorded across the Niger Delta region, thanks to the coordinated efforts of NNPC Limited’s Command and Control Centre, Tantita Security Agency, Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited, Maton Engineering Nigeria Limited, Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited Nigeria, Liquefied Natural Gas, Oando PLC, and government security agencies,” NNPCL reported.

It said security forces in Bayelsa and Abia States uncovered the illegal pipeline connections and conducted repairs on the pipelines.

Vowing to continue to crack down on oil theft, NNPCL said security operatives dismantled illegal refineries producing black-market petroleum products in Rivers and Abia States.

It reported further that the week also revealed hidden storage sites used for illegal activities in Rivers and other locations in Abia.

“Security forces exposed and destroyed these sites. Unfortunately, acts of sabotage led to several oil spills during the week, including a vandalised condensate pipeline and damaged wellheads in Rivers,” it maintained.

Source: NNPCL

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It also said security teams on the roads intercepted and seized vehicles loaded with stolen crude oil in Rivers, Bayelsa, and Abia, while wooden fibre boats packed with stolen crude oil were confiscated on the waterways.

The incidents spanned various corridors: 90 in the Central Corridor, 70 in the Eastern Corridor, five in the Western Corridor, and 14 in Deep Blue Water.

A total of 30 suspects were reportedly arrested and handed over to government security agencies for further investigation, NNPCL revealed.



Oil theft has repeatedly been blamed for Nigeria’s inability to meet oil production targets and earn more revenue.

In July last year, the NNPCL boss, Mele Kyari, announced that the company had declared a state of emergency on crude oil production.




     

     

    According to him, the state-owned oil firm had decided to stop the debate and declared war on the challenges affecting its crude oil production and promised to improve the situation.

    However, crude oil production has yet to significantly improve as industry experts are worried over Nigeria’s inability to meet its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries quota of 1.5 million barrels per day production.

    In a recent analysis, The ICIR reported that Nigeria’s crude oil production has not improved in the last four years despite the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) doubling the country’s oil rig count to 32 in 2024.

    According to the NUPRC chief executive, Gbenga Komolafe, the increase in rig count reflected ongoing efforts to boost upstream activities and enhance the country’s crude oil production capacity.

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    In its Monthly Oil Market Report, released on Wednesday, January 15, OPEC revealed that Nigeria’s crude oil production, based on direct communication, fell to 1,485 in December 2024 from 1,486 in November.

    In June last year, The ICIR analysed how the Nigerian government was losing over N16 billion in revenue daily from crude oil production owing to a shortfall in oil production volume.

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