The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, has described oil theft and vandalism in the Niger Delta region as a calamity.
The NNPCL CEO, who stated this in Abuja on Friday, when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Appropriation, said that there were over 4,800 illegal connections on crude oil pipelines in the area and warned that this could frustrate the projections of the Federal Government.
Kyari pointed out that the daily oil production would depend greatly on the security situation in the Niger-Delta.
The NNPCL boss said, The situation we have in Niger-Delta in terms of security is a calamity. We dont have that anywhere in the world. To engage non-state actors as a last resort is abnormal. But we have to respond abnormally.
You have over 4,800 illegal connections on our pipelines. That means, within every kilometre, you have an insertion. Even if you seal all the insertions, you cant get what you want in terms of production. In the Niger-Delta, people are coming from all parts of the country to do illegal refining. Thats why we engage locals to deal with it.
We will contain this challenge. We are doing everything possible to restore sanity. What is happening is a colossal damage to the environment and the host communities, he further stated.
