Nigeria looses 22million barrels of crude oil in six months – Obaseki

GOVERNOR of Edo  State, Godwin Obaseki, has  said that the nation has  lost about 22 million barrels of its crude oil production to oil theft between January and June 2019.
The governor, who is also the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee of the National Economic Council on Crude Oil Theft disclosed this  at a stakeholders meeting held at the NNPC Towers , Abuja.
He lamented that the menace of oil theft and pipeline vandalism were beginning to pose a threat to the national economy.
According to him,if nothing was done to curtail the ugly trend, the figure could double by the end of the year. He called on stakeholders to join forces and work toward eradicating the menace of crude oil theft that was currently on upward swing in the country.
The meeting had in attendance the group Managing Director of NNPC, Malam Mele Kyari,,  representatives of the Nigerian Police, Navy, Army, Civil Defence , International Oil Companies (IOCs) and some indigenous operators. Others included  representatives of the governors of Delta, Bayelsa, Ondo, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Rivers States. Governors Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom, Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), and the deputy governors of Imo and Abia.
The NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR) for June  disclosed that there was a 77 per cent rise in cases of oil pipeline vandalism across its network of pipeline infrastructure.
According to the report, 106 pipeline points were breached, representing an alarming increase from the 60 points vandalised in May, 2019.