The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has successfully deactivated 6,409 illegal refineries in the Niger Delta region to combat oil theft.
The Managing Director of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, revealed this on Monday during an interactive session with the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, during the latter’s visit to the NNPC Towers in Abuja.
Kyari expressed concern over the magnitude of daily oil theft and the audacity of the perpetrators, labelling crude oil theft as the most formidable and pervasive economic crime in Nigeria.
He appealed to the EFCC for assistance in tackling this menace, highlighting the crucial role the commission plays in maintaining deterrence against such criminal activities and economic crimes.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the NNPCL Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, on the official NNPC X handle (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.
Kyari acknowledged ongoing efforts to enhance transparency and eliminate corruption but underscored the persistent challenge posed by crude oil theft.
“We have disconnected up to 4,846 illegal pipes connected to our pipelines out of 5,543 such illegal connection points. This alarming figure indicates the vast scale of illicit connections that still require attention,” Kyari stated.
Kyari expressed frustration at the recurring nature of the problem, noting that as one illegal connection is removed, another one surfaces.
“This kind of thing does not happen anywhere else in the world. When we say illegal connections, they are not invisible things, they are big pipes that require some level of expertise to be installed. Some of them are of the same size as the trunk line itself. No one would produce crude oil knowing fully well that it is not going to get to the terminal. That is why nobody is putting money into the business. So, you can’t grow production,” he lamented.
On his part, the executive chairman of EFCC, Olukoyede, challenged the NNPCL Management to ensure that existing a code of ethics and regulations was complemented with monitoring and enforcement to enhance deterrence.
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