The Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Melee Kyari, yesterday, said some illegal petroleum products pipelines were connected to churches and mosques.
He also said that the shutting down of pipelines in the country was deliberate.
The CEO also said that the reason for shutting down the refineries include the challenge of not operating as a business, thereby making them to incur loses.
Speaking when he featured at the ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the State House, Kyari said that the authorities of the NNPC borrowed $1billion from the AFREXIM Bank to put in place the refineries.
He added that the management of the company was confident that it was restoring the company for about 90percent efficiency.
He further noted that the repayment of the borrowed money was tied to the productivity of the refineries, boasting that NNPC would deliver on the rehabilitation exercise.
He also assured that there would not be any importation of petroleum products by the middle of next year.
While lamenting on the level of loses on the nation’s pipelines, he said that the nefarious business of pipeline vandals cuts across different regions and religious organisations where the pipelines pass through.
According to Kyari, some of the pipelines are illegally connected around churches and mosques.
The CEO said that the NNPC management is building National Reserve Company.
Maintaining that the issue of crude oil theft is real and happening, he said the company was not helpless as its efforts were paying off.
He said that 295 illegal connections were discovered in one line, in less than 200 meters, and that the company with the help of the security agencies and the directive of the Chief of Defence Staff, they were able to intervene.
He said so far, 30 speed boats, 179 wooden boats, 37 trucks have been impounded, but that the authorities have taken the decision not to arrest any longer but to burn such confiscated products.
Besides, he said, 122 persons comprising highly placed individuals have been arrested between April and August and that some of them have been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He said 739 ovens for the illegal crude oil theft have been discovered and some destroyed, 344 reservoir created and 355 cooking pots also discovered, stressing that the level of the illegal business was enormous.
“It simply means destruction of environment. We have lost revenue,” he declared.
On the alleged contract to the former Niger Delta agitator, Government Ekpemupolo also known as Tompolo, the NNPC CEO said that the contract was not awarded to Tompolo as a person, but a company he has interest in.
He explained that it was not the first time that individuals within the Niger Delta region were awarded a contract for pipeline surveillance, noting that the contract was for the interest of the people.
He said it was his belief that the Federal Government has taken the right decision to hire private contractors to man its oil pipeline network nationwide.
Kyari argued that although the security agencies are doing their part, end-to-end pipeline surveillance would require the involvement of private entities and community stakeholders.
He said: “We need private contractors to man the right of way to these pipelines.
“So, we put up a framework for contractors to come and bid and they were selected through a tender process. And we believe we made the right decision.”
According to earlier reports, one of those selected is a former Nigerian militant commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Government Ekpemupolo, predominantly referred to as Tompolo.
Fielding further questions on the contract, Kyari explained that although the Federal Government is not dealing directly with the former creek warlord, it has signed a contract with a company in which Tompolo has interests.
“We have taken the right decision,” he said.
The NNPC Limited also said that upon completion of rehabilitation works at its refineries, it would be quitting the management and operations of the nation’s refineries.
Kyari said NNPC would not again make the mistake of the past 43 years by managing the refineries.
Rather, he said, the management of such would be handed over to the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM).
Recall that NNPC had last year secured a N1billion loan for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery from AFREXIM Bank.
The 210,000 barrels per day rehabilitation is currently being carried out by Italy’s MaireTechnimont.
He said no lender will put such money into a project without being sure of how to recoup returns on investment.
He explained that the assurance by NNPC to AFREXIM Bank that it would not run the refinery led to the granting of the facility.
Kyari also disclosed that a reserves company to be floated would henceforth manage the pipelines and strategic reserves for the country.
He explained that this is what obtains in other parts of the world in a bid to guarantee energy security.
Meanwhile, against the backdrop of recent figures of missing/stolen crude oil put at 200,000 barrels daily by the NNPC Limited, the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral AwwalGambo,hasargued that it was practically impossible for such quantity of crude to be stolen daily, given the deployments of Nigerian Navy Ships and other operational platforms spread across the nations maritime domain.
The huge/shocking but disputed oil theft figures had been given by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources which the total estimated quantity of barrels stolen per day at between 200,000 to 400,000 per day.
Speaking as guest of Channels TV, Gambo clarified that the data may not have emanated from oil theft alone noting that the government agencies were mistakenly attributing/calculating losses due to force majeure, and shut-ins as part of oil being stolen.
He said, “As much as there is no perfect system, the phenomenon of oil theft and losses must be properly de-conflicted in order to proffer lasting solutions to the malaise which is currently bedevilling our economic resources.
“We need to understand the differences between oil theft and of course, oil loss. While oil theft is siphoning oil from vandalised pipes into barges, oil losses occur when there is non-production, especially during shut-ins and force majeure as the Federal Government does not earn the desired revenue it should”.
Explaining further, the CNS said oil losses could be as a result of metering errors on the operating platforms, while the volume of crude oil shut-ins from non-production are often added to oil theft data instead of accounting for them as oil losses by the authorities.
“This should not be. Some sources also claim that about 20,000 to 200,000 barrels per day are being considered stolen. Most of these claims are definitely outrageous and they are unrealistic,” he insisted.
Buttressing the fact that it is practically impossible to steal such volume of oil without being detected, Gambo said, “Let us even briefly analyse this. For instance, 100,000 barrels of crude oil is equivalent to 15,800,000 litres of crude, which requires a five-ton barge making 3,160 trips per day to convey this product out of the creeks.
“How do you pass the estuaries with this? So, let’s assume now you even have many barges because of the time required to carry out this product. That means you entirely close the navigable waters heading out to sea, through the estuaries, to embark them or to transit them into a mother vessel that will eventually take them out of the country.
“Of course, this is most unlikely considering the heightened presence of security agencies in the maritime environment as well as the launch of the subsisting operations by the Nigerian Navy, including of course, the deployment of the maritime domain awareness facilities”.
Recall that many Nigerians have in recent times interrogated the reports of huge crude oil stealing in the nation’s maritime domain and wondered if the Navy were complicit in the oil theft which had made it difficult for the country to produce the 65per cent of its allocation/quota by Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The Naval Chief while maintaining that efforts have been intensified to detect and foil crude oil theft, noted that in the last four weeks the Navy has detected a number of vessels attempting to load crude and liquefied natural gas within offshore terminals without necessary documentation and approval from the relevant authorities like the NNPCL.
He listed some of such incidences that have occurred in the past four to five weeks to include the arrest of MT Arabia, which is an LNG super-tanker, which entered the country on the 12th of July to load liquefied natural gas without relevant documents.
Also foiled was MT Trinity Arrow, which was also apprehended for entering without necessary approval but only got clearance to load LNG on July 12, also after its papers were updated.
The latest, he said, is the super-tanker, MT HEROIC which is 336 meters long, and 60 meters wide, describing it as a very massive ship.
“Imagine the size of three football fields and 1/3 more. It has the capacity of carrying three million barrels”.
Consequently, the CNS disclosed Gambo that talks were in progress to ensure the handover of the super tanker, MT Heroic for a proper investigation into its actions and why it accused the Nigerian Navy of being sea pirates.