The NNPC boss stated that, as part of efforts to find a lasting solution to the perennial problem of pipeline vandalisation and sundry security challenges bedeviling the oil and gas industry, the NNPC had outlined plans to establish a security advisory council.
He said by 2019, Nigeria expects to become a net exporter of refined products, adding that an investment drive is ongoing to meet the infrastructure requirement.
Operation Delta Safe is a more targeted effort to curtail the menace of oil pipeline vandalisation by militants in the region, and is said to be in line with the Federal Government’s peace overtures to militants in the Niger Delta.
The activities of the militants have halved Nigeria’s oil production to some 1.4 million barrels per day, and impacted negatively on power supply in the country and the country’s oil earnings.
Fashola noted that continuous vandalism of gas pipelines and infrastructure across the country had forced government to explore other alternative sources of energy.
The action by the militant group has forced the NNPC to shut a valve in a pipeline in the Niger Delta after a gas leak following an explosion, a community leader told Reuters yesterday.
According to Kachikwu, talks with the Niger Delta Avengers are “currently taking place and have begun to yield fruits.”
In a statement on its website, the Avengers said they wanted multinational oil companies operating in the country to “commit independent mediators to this proposed dialogue” to “bring about a lasting peace”.
According to MEND, “If indeed your cause is to avenge the injustice done to the Niger Delta region then, we urge you to ceasefire and join us to the table of negotiation with the federal Government.”
According to a recent Bloomberg News survey, Nigerian crude production declined by 160,000 barrels a day to 1.45 million over the past month.
