Thieves are stealing about 180,000 barrels worth of crude oil every day from pipelines and illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Engineer Austen Oniwon, said yesterday.
He said the figure is the highest since the commencement of the amnesty programme by the late president Umar Musa Yar'adua.
Oniwon disclosed this while speaking in his office to members of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Upstream led by its chairman, Hon. Ajibola Muraina.
He said the lost has outstripped the current crude oil production capacity of Ghana which is pegged at 120,000bpd, adding that high-profile criminals have taken over illegal oil trading activities from militants who hitherto engaged in such acts.
Meanwhile, the National Taskforce on Petroleum Revenue Chairman Nuhu Ribadu said sustained security challenges in the petroleum sector has contributed about 30 percent of revenue loss in the industry.
Ribadu said this in response to questions from newsmen at a stakeholders' workshop on developments in Nigeria's petroleum sector in Abuja. The workshop was organised by the task force.
Daily Trust