NNPCL Detects 4,800 Illegal Connections on Oil Pipelines Nationwide

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL) has identified 4,800 illegal connections on 5,000 kilometres of oil pipelines nationwide.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, revealed this during a presentation before the Senate Committee on Appropriations on Friday.

In his presentation to the committee, the NNPCL boss stated that the oil-related projections in the budget are both practical and achievable, despite the current daily oil production averaging 1.5 million barrels in the country.

He said, “As it is today, about 4,800 illegal connections are made on the over 5,000 oil pipelines across the country.”

“The illegal connections on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta are so rampant that within 100 kilometres of the affected pipelines, 300 insertions are made on them, which eventually made the pipe to be weak to the point of not being able to hold the pressure of oil pumped, let alone delivering it to the targeted destination.”

“Additionally, it is abnormal to engage non-state actors to protect critical assets like oil pipelines. We have, however, responded abnormally and getting results, because unlike it was in July 2022 when less than 1.2 million barrels of oil were produced per day, it has been 1.5 million barrels per day within the last two to three months,”

In response to the Chairman of the committee’s inquiry about the possibility of increasing the daily oil production projection from 1.78 million to 1.8 million, he affirmed that the parameters and projections outlined in the proposed budget are satisfactory for the NNPCL and attainable.

He further informed the committee that the 1.78 million barrels of oil per day production for the 2024 budget comprised of condensate production ranging from 200,000 to 300,000 barrels per day.

Highlighting the NNPCL’s status as a fully commercial entity, he disclosed that the corporation had remitted N406 billion into the Federation Account as dividends between July and November of the current year.