The House of Representatives has expressed concern over the repeated destruction of oil and gas pipelines in the nation.
During a meeting with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd. in Abuja, Rep. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, Chairman of the Special Committee on Oil Theft, criticized the act of pipeline destruction.
The purpose of the engagement was to investigate the underlying causes of oil theft in the country and explore potential solutions to curb this menace.
Ado-Doguwa emphasized that it was widely acknowledged that managing oil and gas pipelines in Nigeria posed significant challenges.
“It is saddening to note that these infractions do not stop with the pipelines; daily breaches are also recorded at the oil well heads, flow stations, loading, and export terminals, among others,” he said.
He said that the opacity and non-transparency of regulatory activities at the nation’s crude oil export terminals were alarming.
“We are compiling the facts and figures. Instances where approvals are hastily granted to vessels involved in crude theft just to cover official complicity are reported.
“Incidents of undeclared liftings are noted, and all these and several other infractions, particularly in our offshore marine environment, contribute to the huge volume of crude oil theft being reported,” he added.
Mr. Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of NNPC Ltd., revealed that the company recorded over 9,000 infractions on its pipelines within one year.
Between 2022 and the present, the corporation has shut down 6,465 illegal refineries and removed 4,876 illegal pipeline connections out of the 5,570 identified.
“Some of the scale of the infraction that we see is unbelievable. We are not able to deal with it. When you remove one connection, the next day in the same location, someone will replace it.