The House of Representatives Special Committee on Crude Oil Theft and Losses has called on the Nigerian Navy to provide it with relevant information to unmask those behind the stealing of the nation’s crude oil.
The chairman of the committee, Hon Alhassan Ado Doguwa, sought the assistance of the Navy at the weekend during a special interface with the chief of naval staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogala.
The former House leader assured that the information obtained confidentially by the committee shall be handled with utmost care to achieve the goal of tackling the economic sabotage by the perpetrators.
Doguwa said crude oil theft is a major concern to the economy of the country and the panel resolved to synergise with relevant security stakeholders that have long been existing on the space to fight against the crime.
“You can all recall that the recent projection for the year 2024, the parliament budgeted about 28.77 trillion naira based on crude oil benchmark of $77.96 per barrel and the production of 1.78 million barrels per day. In January 2024, Nigeria oil production rose to about 1.42 million barrels per day, this represents an increase of about 6.85 percent compared to the production figure of 1.39 million barrels per day in December 2023.
“Though there seems to be a gradual improvement of oil production, we are still below the OPEC quota of 1.58 million barrels per day in the 2024 budget benchmark. The major reason the country is not meeting her production targets is largely attributed to crude oil theft.
This theft is being carried out in collusion, that not only threatens the economy of the country but has even precipitated a crisis bothering on national security.
“You may recall that in 2022 NEITI report, which is the key parameter for our economic projections, the agency stated that about 619.7 million barrels of crude oil, valued at over $46.16 billion was stolen within the period of 12 years”, a situation he said have been reported variously in the media as the situation seemed not to be abetting
“In order to address these criminalities, the house instituted this special committee, and charged it with the responsibility of investigating all dimensions of oil theft and with a view to bringing all culprits to book,” he said.
Doguwa said the committee has since commenced legislative work, engaging strategic stakeholders, and will soon begin public investigative hearings on “identified malpractices.”
He recalled that on Friday, February 9, 2024, the Committee visited a site of arrested two vessels in Delta State, for involvement in crude oil theft saying these occurrences calls for an overhaul of the security architecture around the oil and gas infrastructure and the nation’s marine environment.
Responding, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ogala agreed that oil theft is a major challenge to the country’s economy, stressing the recent report by NNPC Limited of the rise of crude oil production to about 1.78 million bpd, which it said was the highest in last three years, as still being below Nigeria’s OPEC quota.
He assured that the Navy will work in collaboration with others to ensure the quota is met though lamented the shortage of personnel in the face of the vastness of the country’s waterways which he said was over 1/10th of Nigeria land space.
The Navy boss said the service has less than 30,000 personnel, to man the vast sea space with operational guidelines of policing, enforcing and assisting in coordinating enforcement.
Ogala stressed that some of the roles in securing the waterways were not exclusive to the Navy but it has adopted a framework for a total maritime safety strategy, saying “there must be adequate collaboration with other agencies, and working with communities, international organizations and others.”
He said the Nigerian Navy has been doing a lot in tackling crude oil theft, but it does not say much about that in the media, as according to him, 34 vessels have been arrested between July 2023 to date, and have been subjected to requisite investigation, with some already facing prosecution by the concerned agencies, including the police and the EFCC.
On stolen crude, he said the quoted figures might be true, and might not be true, noting that oil theft is a generic term, as details of what constitute oil theft are in multiple dimensions, including pipeline vandalism, and at a larger scale, the use of vessels to move crude oil illegally.
Ogala also blamed some major oil companies for failing to seal disused oil well heads as the standard are globally, after leaving such wells when considered no longer commercially viable, saying those operating illegal refineries take advantage of the oil well heads to scoop.
The Naval chief therefore appointed two desk officers to work in collaboration with the committee of the House for maximum results.
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