The Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC Limited, on Friday said that there are 4,800 illegal connections from the country’s crude oil pipeline in the Niger-Delta region. NNPC Limited Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari who finally appeared before Senate Committee on Appropriations chaired by Senator Adeola Olamilekan added that within 100 kilometres of the pipeline there are over 300 insertions.
He stressed that crude oil theft in the Niger Delta region has reached calamity stage which is not attainable in any country of the world. Kyari added that, the situation is despite the engagement of state actors to protect critical assets as the last resort for a solution to a massive challenge that is termed abnormal and should not have happened in the first place. He further stated that when these insertions to the pipelines are continued for a long time and sealed up, they can no longer hold the pressure.
On Subsidy removal, the Group CEO says if President Bola Tinubu did not remove the subsidy on petrol, NNPC would have been liquidated by the end of June. He says monies were taken from other cash flows and sources to fund subsidy in the past for its sustenance and would have resorted to more borrowing to sustain the subsidy regime as its cash flow could no longer carry the burden of fuel subsidy. He also said the country does not have credible data on National Consumption, because there is no infrastructure to get the accurate figure.
The NNPCL boss in his submissions before the Committee said the oil component of the 2024 budgetary projections are realistic and realisable despite the fact that the country presently produces an average of 1.5 million barrels of oil per day. When asked by the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC Ogun West) if the projected oil production per day can be jacked up to 1.8 million from 1.78 million, he says the projections and parametres set in the proposed budget are accurate for NNPCL and realisable.
He also informed the Committee members that the 1.78 million barrels per day oil production for the 2024 budget, include condensate which are 200,000 to 300,000 barrels per day.
He revealed that from July to November 2023 the Company has have paid N406 billion to the Federation Account as dividends. According to him, it is an improvement from what the Company paid in the past including taxes and royalty of N100 billion to the Federation Account.
He also revealed that phase one of Port Harcourt Refinery is expected to begin operation by
December 2023 and the Warri Refinery will begin operation in the first quarter of 2024 while by the end of 2024 the Kaduna Refinery will also come on stream.
This according to him will bring about reduction in prices of petroleum products and by 2024 the country will become a net exporter of petroleum products.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
