…NUPRC lauds military, partners, OEMs over development
Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, says the nation’s oil production has risen to 1.5 million barrels per day, mb/d, due to successes recorded in the fight against oil theft in the Niger Delta region by the military.
The Chief Executive Officer of NUPRC, Engr Gbenga Komolafe, disclosed this in Port Harcourt when he accompanied the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva and the Chief of Defence Staff, General Leo Irabor, on a visit to Operation Delta Safe formations in Rivers State.
Komolafe, speaking to newsmen, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his commitment in the fight against oil theft and sundry sources of oil losses in the country.
“”There has been progress in combating crude oil theft. You will recall that around September, the menace of oil theft got to a crescendo in a manner that national production decreased to less than 1 million barrels per day. It is commendable that the national production has now increased to around 1.5 million per day,” he said.
The NUPRC boss said the commission was working on a holistic approach to end oil theft and other sources of oil losses in the country.
According to him, the commission was already engaging Original Equipment Manufacturers, OEMs, to ensure that all the measurement units at oil terminals were well maintained to minimise oil losses.
He said: “We also have non kinetic challenges such as measurements issues and losses attributable to error. All these we are trying to ensure a holistic solution.
“On the approval of the Petroleum Minster (President Buhari), we are trying to ensure that the issue of measurement is addressed. We already have the approval of the minister on this.
“The commission, as I speak, is engaging OEMs to ensure that all the measurement units across all our terminals are on-spec and well maintained in a manner that will minimised measurement errors, because all these, in addition to real oil theft, all attribute to losses.
“So we are trying to address all these holistically, and it quite needs the cooperation and synergy of everybody, that is, the security agencies, the regulatory agencies and NNPC, and at the end of the day, the nation will be the beneficiary.”
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