The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, has said Nigeria lost about N434 billion (about $1 billion) to oil theft between January and March this year.
Komolafe was speaking at the Iwereland Petroleum Communities Summit on the implementation of the Host Communities’ Development Trust in oil producing Itsekiri communities under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 hosted by the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III.
The upstream regulator disclosed that only about 1.35 million barrels or 71 per cent of the 1.9 million barrels that Nigeria produces, all things being equal, gets to the crude oil export terminals due to massive theft and pipeline vandalism.
While stressing that the challenge was hindering Nigeria from meeting her crude oil output capacity, Komolafe said out of about 141 million barrels of crude oil the country produced during the period, about nine million barrels were lost to crude oil theft.
Given the prevailing price of an average of about $116 per barrel at the international crude oil market, and an official exchange rate of N415/$, the loss sums up to about N434 billion.
“While the commission is prioritising efforts towards increasing oil and gas production and ensuring maximum economic recovery in Nigeria through the optimisation of oil and gas value chain, there have been challenges limiting the country from making the much-desired progress,” Komolafe lamented.