We recorded 45, 347 pipeline breaks in 18 years- NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed that the corporation recorded a total of 45,347 pipeline breaks on its downstream pipeline network across the country between 2001 and half year 2019.

Speaking at the inaugural Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Policy Dialogue in Abuja, the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, said, oil theft had remained a challenge in the Industry despite some strong interventions in the past.

He added that, for the country to experience economic prosperity, the corporation and other oil companies must have the capacity to operate profitably and efficiently.

He lamented that the incessant crude oil theft, illegal refining and pipeline vandalism, has become a menace to the country and also contributed adversely revenue projections.

Kyari averred that the gradual reduction in incidences would be sustained through improved collaboration, implementation of Global Memoranda of Understanding (GMoUs), and deployment of appropriate technologies, among other measures.

The NNPC boss who was represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Upstream, Mr Roland Ewubare highlighted other measures to curb the menace, which include, a security architecture with single accountability for national critical infrastructure; Industry and regulatory commitment to transparent crude oil and products accounting, the realistic expectation by host communities, and emplacement of sustainable social investment mechanism.

He added that there is a need to inculcate shared values of integrity and transparency across every level of the governance structure for pipeline security, policy refill and enforcement of legal actions on economic saboteurs.

” There is an urgent need to prioritize and instil in the nation’s teeming youth a sense of patriotism and national orientation”, he said.