Minister, NUPRC Differ On Causes Of Crude Oil Losses In Nigeria

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) have differed on the cause of crude oil losses in Nigeria.

Naija News gathered that while the minister maintains that oil theft and pipeline vandalism were the major cause of crude oil losses in the country, the NUPRC reveals that measurement inaccuracies were responsible and not theft.

It was gathered that the Chief Executive of NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe at the weekend said a forensic audit conducted by the commission revealed that about 40% of the volumes of missing crude oil in the Nigerian petroleum industry were due to measurement inaccuracies and not theft.

He explained that the audit, which covered the period of January 2020 to November 2022 showed that theft and pipeline vandalism as speculated were not the causes of the majority of crude losses in the industry.

Komolafe explained that the audit indicated with accuracy the stolen volume of crude oil within the reference period, hence the commission was committed to dealing with the issue of metering errors which were the cause of measurement irregularities.

Naija News, however, learnt that the minister disagreed with him while maintaining that crude oil losses in Nigeria were due to theft and pipeline vandalism.

Sylva, in a statement issued in Abuja by his Senior Adviser on Media and Communications, Horatius Egua on Monday, insisted that theft and pipeline vandalism with decayed infrastructure were responsible for the volumes of crude oil losses across the country.

He advanced that contrary to the NUPRC report, the problem associated with crude oil losses were systemic issues, which were being handled with a view to finding permanent solutions.

The minister, in the statement, said “Contrary to reports that about 40 per cent of the volumes of crude losses are due to measurement inaccuracies, he (Sylva) noted that the major sources of crude oil losses have primarily been theft, pipeline vandalism and production deferment as a result of pipeline non-availability.

“It is a known fact that the major losses of crude oil in the country have been through theft and destruction of oil pipelines.

“Again we also know that some of the oil infrastructure is old and decayed and cannot perform at maximum capacity. And there is also the issue of lack of investments in fossil fuel in the country and the drive towards renewable energy has really hampered new investments in this sector.”

He noted that the Federal Government’s efforts to tackle the menace through improved investments and security along the major oil and gas pipelines in the Niger Delta region have yielded good results.

He said the Federal Government could not continue to lose revenue through perceived lapses in crude oil production, especially at this critical period of scarce resources for the nation.

Sylva observed that it wasn’t a time to dwell on past mistakes or engage in needless blame games, noting that there has however been improved security along the major oil pipelines in the region, and a need for sustenance to maintain maximum crude oil production.

The minister, therefore, charged NUPRC and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to work together to ensure that the constraints to optimal crude oil production were speedily addressed to boost national revenue.