30 September 2013, Abuja – The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has disclosed that it lost as much as 11,753,217 million barrels, mb, of crude oil to activities of illegal crude theft and oil bunkering within the last three years.
NNPC in a closed-door presentation to members of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), stated that the losses were recorded between 2010 and 2012 at its various pipelines notably the Escravos/Chevron Nigeria (ESC/CNL)-Warri trunk line, which has the highest cumulative figure of 6,415,052mb in the years under review.
The presentation, made by the Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy of NNPC, Dr. Timothy Okon, to the committee led by its chairman, Hon. Ajibola Muraina, and obtained by THISDAY indicated that in 2010, 2011, and 2012, the corporation recorded losses of 965,069mb, 4,213,468mb and 1,236,515mb respectively from ESC/CNL-Warri line alone.
On its Warri-Kaduna pipeline, it had losses of 720,748mb for 2010, 644,193mb for 2011 and 752,598mb for 2012; on the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)/Warri pipeline it had 34,644mb, 153,879mb, and 88,989mb for the years respectively while the Bonny /Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC) line had 595,820mb, 1,379,770mb and 967,522mb as well for 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Cumulatively, Okon stated that the crude oil loss figures for 2010 were 2,316,281mb, 2011-6,391,311mb and 3,045,625mb for 2012, thus resulting to 11,753,217mb.
He specified that the Bonny-PHC line was critical to the efficient operation of the NNPC’s largest crude oil refinery, but for several years has been the target of pipeline vandalism and oil theft, adding that further impacts of crude oil theft were environmental degradation like loss of vegetation and water pollution, among others.
Okon also reminded the legislators that three of NNPC staff members were murdered at the Arepo end of its pipeline in Ogun state in 2012, just as the corporation remained determined to recover the line, which he said remains critical to its operations.
Giving figures on its Year-to-Date (YTD) crude oil sales, Okon informed that the corporation enjoys a daily domestic crude oil allocation of 445,000bpd from which it got about $10,068,757,780.56 in value for its sales within the first seven months of 2013, that is, from January to July.
He also spoke on some of its operational challenges, notably the refineries which low performances he attributed to inconsistent crude oil supply, frequent shutdown of Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) and ullage constraint.
Okon added that the low throughput of the Nigeria Gas Company (NGC) was due to inadequate gas supply from gas producers owing to maintenance shutdowns, low gas availability at the Oben gas plant, breach in the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), and low off-take by consumers in the power sector.
On the activities of the corporation in the downstream petroleum sector of Nigeria, Okon stated that the revenue generation of its retail outlets have grown significantly by 39 per cent within the last three years from N151 billion to N219 billion while the number of its retail outlets has increased from 418 to 505, thus, increasing the corporation’s domestic market share from 12 per cent to 15 per cent.
He added that the corporation however targets to grow its market share to about 42 per cent within the coming years.
– Chineme Okafor, This Day