The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Mallam Kolo Kyari, said in its bid to discourage pipeline vandalism and oil theft, the command and control centre of the corporation has uncovered and destroyed no fewer than 5,686 illegal refineries across the country since 2021 till date.
Speaking at the 2024 annual lecture organised by the Faculty of Science, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, Osun State on Wednesday, Mr Kyari stated that within the same period, the NNPCL control centre also carried out successful removal of 4,480 illegal connections and over 1,615 reported vandalisms across the three operating corridors of the corporation in the country.
He said, “Incessant pipeline vandalism and theft has completely changed our product distribution philosophy, from pipeline network to long convoys of tanker truck moving petroleum products from Apapa Zamfara. In addition to this, cross-boder smuggling of petroleum products to neighbouring countries was a major concern to NNPC and the federation before the removal of subsidy.
“Short-term distribution snags and perennial shortages of petroleum products are associated with the fragile nature of the national product distribution systems that today solely rely on trucking across thousands of kilometres instead of pipeline,” he added.
According to him, “As part of NNPC efforts to mitigate oil vandalism and oil theft, NNPC is leveraging modern technology with robust command and control centre to track and identify illegal activities and suspicious movement of vessels used for crude oil theft across the western, eastern, and centraloperating corridors.’
He stressed that, “As NNPC pipeline network continued to come under consistent sabotaged by vandals and oil thieves, we had to shift our strategy to have more products trucked and stored in underground tankage at NNPC filling stations across the country to mitigate short-to-medium term distribution shocks, In furtherance of this, NNPC has expanded its Retail assets, by acquiring OVH stations and associated downstream infrastructure in 2021 to become the largest single downstream company in sub-Saharan Africa.”
