Nigeria lost 560,000 barrels of oil and 109 million litres of petroleum products to the activities of pipeline vandals over the past six months, between January and June, 2016.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu stated this in Lagos, on Thursday, August 18, while speaking at the 2016 annual conference of the National Association of Energy Correspondents (NAEC) with the theme is: Low oil price: Impact and the way forward, where he delivered the keynote address, he lamented the huge impact renewed attacks on oil and gas pipelines this year has cost the Federal Government.
Kachikwu said over 3,000 incidents were recorded from 2010-2015, resulting in loss of 643 million litres of products amounting to N51.28 billion, while between January and June this year, 1,600 incidents were recorded resulting in loss of 109 million litres of products and 560,000 barrels of crude meant for the refineries.
He noted that for the Federal Government to meet its targeted annual production, it requires additional 1.1 million barrels per day from now to the end of the year. He also added that due to pipeline vandalism, about 850 million standard cubic feet per day (scf/d) of gas has been shut in with power outage exposure of 2,700-3,000 megawatts (Mw).
In addition,the Minister lamented that the Niger Delta crisis has resulted in loss of lives, high cost of operations, fuel shortage and environmental degradation.
Kachikwu, also stated that the Federal Government will unveil a petroleum sector roadmap next week as part of efforts to unlock the potential in the oil and gas sector, noting that five other regulations to provide clarity on the position of government with respect to the management and development of the sector are also to be rolled out by October.
He said the roadmap is imperative now that investment capitals are shrinking globally. Such policies will remove obstacles and encourage the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) to grow the sector.
The roadmap will provide comprehensive gas policy, unlock gas potentials, transit Nigeria from gas flare penalty regime to flared gas commercialisation and shift focus from government built to investor built infrastructure.
