The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, on Tuesday alleged that every section of Nigerian society is complicit in the theft of millions of barrels of oil.
Kyari alleged that make-shift pipelines and stolen fuel had even been found in churches and mosques.
In recent times, large-scale theft from the nation’s pipelines has throttled exports, forcing some companies to shut in production and crippled the country’s finances.
Kyari said a total of 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) is siphoned daily from what is typically Africa’s largest exporter.
“Some of the pipelines and some of the products that we found are actually in churches and in mosques,” Kyari said, adding this meant those complicit included “members of the communities, members of the religious leadership and also, most likely, government officials”.
Although, it was not immediately clear if the government had found stolen crude oil, in addition to fuel, in those places mentioned.
The impact on exports is a reduction of 700,000 bpd, Kyari said, because theft had forced at least 700 “lock-ins” of oil production.
“No-one produces oil so that the next person can take it,” he said. “The wise thing to do is to stop production.”
Kyari said some of the pipeline taps were so sophisticated that they ran for 3-4 kilometres and would have involved cranes, industrial equipment and at least 40 workers.
NNPC has engaged companies, including those owned by ex-militants, to stem theft, and Kyari said the nation’s anti-graft agency was also following the cash and would prosecute those involved.
Kyari said Nigeria was building a “national reserve company” that would run the pipelines on a commercial basis and would be able to manage theft and other issues differently.
“In the meantime, there is very little else we can do except continue to manage (moving oil) on trucks,” he said.
Similarly, Kyri said that the importation of petroleum products into the country will be stopped by mid-2023.
He said that the combined output of Nigeria’s refineries being revamped and Dangote refinery would be enough to stop importation.
He said: “Even if all the refineries are working today, you will still have a net deficit of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to import into this country.
”This is what it means, because our population has grown; demand has grown; the middle class has grown.
“I am sure everybody here owns one or two cars; and as such, the volume of petroleum products we require in this country has grown exponentially.”
Kyari stated that this was because there was clearly an exponential growth in our need for PMS.
“So, even if they all come, we are going to stop importation of petroleum products, but happily also, NNPC Ltd owns 20 per cent equity in the Dangote Refinery and we are very proud of this,” he added.
Kyari said that aside from owning 20 per cent equity in Dangote Refinery, NNPC Ltd had the right of first refusal to supply crude oil to that plant.
“But, we saw this energy transition challenge coming; we knew that time will come when you will look for people who will buy your crude oil, you will not find.
“And that means we have locked down the ability to sell crude oil for 33,000 barrels minimum by right for the next 20 years.
“By right also, we have access to 20 per cent of the production from that plant,” Kyari said.
He expressed optimism that Dangote Refinery would become operational by the middle of 2023.
According to him, the refinery has a production capacity of 650, 000 barrels per day, with a different technology.
Kyari added: `Which means that, it can crack the crude in a manner that you can have more gasoline than a typical refinery; that means the refinery has the ability to produce up to 50 million litres of PMS.
“So, the combination of that and our own ability to bring back our refinery will completely eliminate any importation of petroleum products into this country.
“This is very practical; this is possible; as a matter of fact, what we have done with our own refineries and the Dangote Refinery with many other small initiatives we have put in place—small, modular, condensate refineries that we are building.
”If that happens, we are very optimistic it will happen; you will see that this country will now be a net exporter.’’
The NNPC boss said he was looking forward to Nigeria becoming a hub of export of petroleum products, not just to the West African region, but to the rest of the world.