NIGERIA LOSES N78BN TO CRUDE, PETROLEUM PRODUCTS THEFT

                                
Nigeria lost N77.87 billion worth of crude oil and other petroleum products in 2013, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has revealed.  The NNPC, in its Annual Statistics Bulletin 2013, released recently, said 327,480 metric tonnes, MT, of petroleum products were lost, while a total of 2.312 million barrels of crude oil were stolen from pipelines in the period under review.

According to the NNPC report, pipeline vandalism increased by 58 per cent over the previous year, as a total of 3,570 line breaks were reported on NNPC pipelines.

Meanwhile  these line breaks, the NNPC said about 3,505 were as a result of vandalism, while 65 cases were due to system deterioration resulting in a loss of 327,480MT of petroleum products worth about N38.88 billion.

In addition, the NNPC said, “2.31 million barrels of crude oil worth about N38.992 billion were lost in the same period. There were 34 cases of fire incidents during the year under review.”

Specifically, the report showed that efforts at curbing crude theft have started to yield positive results, as the amount of oil stolen from pipelines in the period under review dropped by 40.75 per cent or N26.82 billion from N65.812 billion recorded in 2012.

Giving a further breakdown, the NNPC said 865,482 barrels of Bonny Light, valued at N 14.598 billion were stolen in the period under review, while 1.408 million barrels of Escravos Light, valued at N23.75 billion were lost to thieves.

Also, 25,706 barrels of Urals crude were stolen leading to a loss of N433.58 million, while 12,490 barrels of Ughelli blend valued at N210.67 million were stolen in the period under review.

On the contrary, the report disclosed that the amount of petroleum products lost in the period under review represented an appreciation of N17.4 billion from the N21.484 billion worth stolen in 2012.

Giving a breakdown of products losses by region, the report stated that Mosimi recorded the highest incidences of loss with 268,760MT valued at N31.364 billion; followed by Kaduna with 39,620MT valued at N5.488 billion.

Warri recorded petroleum products loss of 16,860MT, valued at N1.785 billion, while N244.46 million were lost from the Port Harcourt area as 2,230MT were lost.

Continuing, the NNPC said, “The local refineries received a total of 36.193 million barrels, about 4.918 million MT of dry crude oil, condensate and slops and processed 35.233 million barrels, about 4.761 million MT into various petroleum products.

“The total production output by the refineries was 5.068 million MT of various petroleum products. The combined average refining capacity utilisation for year 2013 was 22 per cent as against 21 per cent in the previous year.”

The NNPC added that, “Total crude oil and condensate production for the year was 800.488 million barrels giving a daily average of 2.19 million barrels per day. This is lower than the previous year’s by six per cent.

Reports have it to say that “Of the total quantity, NNPC lifted 341.505 million barrels, representing 42.67 per cent, averaging 935,629 barrels per day for both domestic utilisation and export.”