Drums of oil

 

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) yesterday said 95.4million litres or 600,000 barrels of crude oil were stolen daily. It said a barrel contains 159litres. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), said personnel of the various security agencies deployed to the Niger Delta should be held accountable for the high rate of crude oil theft. The Senate lamented the economic sabotage occasioned by the massive oil theft, fearing it would frustrate the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), if not urgently curbed. It organised an investigative public hearing on “Oil lifting, theft and the impact on petroleum production and oil revenues”. In his submission before the ad-hoc committee chaired by Senator Bassey Akpan (YPP – Akwa Ibom North East), the Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services and Administration of the NUPRC, Mr Jide Adeola, said about 159 litres amounting to 600,000 barrels of crude oil were being illegally siphoned per day. Adeola revealed that Nigeria produces 1.23million barrels of crude oil per day as against its 1.8million barrels target, leading to a total revenue loss of about $2.1billion or N877billion.