Attack on Oil theft and Vandalism Increases Production – NNPC

The Group Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, yesterday said the military and other security officials’ efforts in tackling crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the country are yielding positive results.
According to the NNPCL boss, the renewed fight against the menace has yielded improved growth in the nation’s crude oil production.
Kyari disclosed this when he received the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Christopher Musa, who led senior military officers on a courtesy visit to his office yesterday.
In a statement signed by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye, the NNPCL boss, while encouraging the military to sustain the war against oil theft and pipeline vandalism, said: “I personally call for enhanced and sustained security engagement. This is because we have reached a new peak in production that we haven’t seen in the last three years. This is clearly related to the sustained efforts by the armed forces and other security agencies to protect our critical assets, particularly the pipeline infrastructure in specified areas where we are working closely with these agencies. We are already seeing the results transforming into increased production.”
Kyari also commended the CDS and his team for their unwavering commitment to securing the nation’s critical hydrocarbon assets especially in the Niger Delta region in recent months, emphasising that these achievements are not only crucial to Nigeria but also to the global energy community. He expressed confidence that the CDS and his team will deliver on the Presidential mandate to mitigate security-related challenges affecting the nation’s crude oil production. “Components of this effort that depend on security are being effectively managed by you. Your coordinated and focused response is paving the way for improved security engagement, particularly in the Niger Delta,” he said.
Kyari’s claim of increased production output was substantiated by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC, which obtains its production data from two sources- direct communication, that is, from member countries and secondary communication, such as energy intelligence platforms, Nigeria’s average daily crude oil production has been on the rise.
Relying on direct sources, the oil cartel said Nigeria’s oil production increased to 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, representing a 2.36 per cent rise from the 1.27 million bpd recorded in June. However, OPEC said secondary sources reported that Nigeria’s crude production increased by 0.74 percent to 1.38 million bpd from 1.36 million bpd reported in June. Consequently, the current production figure means that Nigeria retained its position as the biggest oil producer in Africa, surpassing Angola, which produced 909,000 bpd in July, and Congo, which produced 257,000 bpd in July.
Responding to Kyari, General Musa said the visit was intended to introduce the Monitoring Team to the NNPCl, which will be responsible for interfacing with the Company and other stakeholders in the oil-producing regions to secure the nation’s critical hydrocarbon infrastructure.
While pledging commitment towards improving security and the performance of his troops, the CDS said the military will sustain the onslaught and analyse the troops’ capabilities to enhance their performance and bolster productivity. The CDS also stressed the need to ramp up production for a prosperous economy and reassured collaboration with intelligence agencies, private security, state governments and host communities for enhanced performance.

Source: thenationonlineng.net

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