Kachikwu, who made the disclosure on Tuesday, attributed the huge loss to activities of oil vandals in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.
The minister disclosed that the country recorded daily losses of about 1 million barrels of oil per day, accounting for a revenue loss of USD 50 million-USD 100 million in 2016.
He further noted that the decline in the country’s crude oil price had also contributed to the recorded losses.
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“At the highest of it last year, we were producing 1.2mbpd. We were losing literally a million barrels daily. At that time also, we were losing an average over $50-$100 billion unearned income as a result of disruption.
“Jobs were out, pipelines were thrown over the entire place, refineries couldn’t work to capacity, we couldn’t meet our contractors’ international obligations, and the economy basically suffered.”
“When you have that side by side with the fact that oil prices also declined by 60 percent over the last one and half years, you will see the massive problem that President Muhammadu Buhari has faced and he has to deal with over this period.
“This is a problem that has consistently been there, even before the government of President Obasanjo. It is a problem that seems to never have a solution in sight.”
“Today we view 20 potential options that we can look at. First, we begin the process of engaging the communities, and one of the things the oil companies are going to be doing together in the next one month is to be having a meeting once in every two months with the state executives and oil producing communities,” Kachikwu said.