NNPC Destroyed Over 5,600 Illegal Refinery, Stopped 4,480 Illegal Crude Oil Connections In Two Years – Kyari

– Recovers 1.9m Barrels Of Crude Oil, 170 Million Liters Of Diesel, 650,000 Liters Of PMS From Crude Oil Thieves

From 2021 till date, the Command and Control Centre of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has assisted in the detection and destruction of over 5,686 Illegal Refinery sites, and successfully removed 4,480 Illegal Connections in the country.

The Centre has also assisted in reporting over 1,615 vandalisms across the three operating corridors of the NNPC as well as facilitated the recovery of 1.9 million barrels of stolen crude oil, 170 million liters of diesel, and 650,000 liters of Premium Motor Spirit also known as petrol from crude oil thieves

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Ltd, Mallam Mele Kyari, gave these statistics on Wednesday while speaking as a guest speaker at the public lecture of the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

Kyari spoke on the theme, “Energy security, sustainability and profitability in Nigeria: Advances, challenges and opportunities.”

He said vandalism and oil theft is causing the Nigerian petroleum industry millions of dollars every year, with associated damage to the environment and sustainable business operations.

Given these chaotic realities, Kyari told the gathering that the NNPC has continued to discharge its mandate to guarantee national energy security and deliver value despite the unique and unending challenges of its operating environment.

As part of NNPC’s efforts to mitigate oil vandalism and oil theft, he said the National Oil Company 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 central operating corridors.

The command-and-control centre, he added, has been equipped with the necessary technology to achieve the live streaming of surveillance pictures, videos, and data to security forces for deterrent action.

He said, “Vandalism and oil theft is a war against over 200million Nigerians and must be won. From 2021 to date, the centre has helped in the detection and destruction of over 5,686 Illegal Refinery sites (IR), successful removal of 4,480 Illegal Connections (ICs) and over 1,615 reported vandalisms across the three operating corridors. “

He explained that as the NNPC pipeline network continued to come under consistent sabotaged by vandals and oil thieves, the management had to shift its 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, Kyari added that the NNPC Ltd 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.

He explained further that the passage of the long-awaited Petroluem Industry Act in 2021, the subsequent NNPC transition to a fully commercial limited liability energy company and the removal of fuel subsidy which freed the market and eliminate cross-border smuggling of petroleum products from Nigerian has created greater opportunity for NNPC to play active commercial role, sustain profitability and deliver greater value to our fast-growing population.

He said, “Our energy security can be ensured through local adequacy as new refineries come on board, and NNPC refineries fully restreamed. There is opportunity to further improve Nigeria’s energy security resilience using our locally abundant natural gas resources to support Compressed natural Gas (CNG) production and utilization as environmentally friendly and cheaper alternative to petrol.

“Adequate national (or regional) strategic reserves to address any transient interruption, shortages, or unpredictably high demand.

Technology, process automation and the drive for continued improvement have placed NNPC at the pedestal of growth and greater prosperity.”

In terms of commercial viability, the NNPC Boss said the Company has continued to defy gravity, climbing higher, conquering chaos and complexities to deliver greater value.

According to the GCEO, the NNPC’s shadow of past losses has been replaced by credible performance, noting that “From our first profit of N287bn in 2020, to N674bn in 2021 and over N2.5trn in 2022.”

He stated that the NNPC is also paying adequate attention to the issue of environmental sustainability, noting that energy security can also be greatly enhanced by energy conservation, energy diversification and efficiency measures, because reducing energy intensity will reduce the dependence of the economy on energy consumption and imports.

He noted that vibrant academic communities such as the OAU have very important roles to play in safeguarding the national energy security through research and collaboration with the industry to address thorny issues and create alternative paths to guaranteeing energy sufficiency and sustainability as population continue to grow and available energy resources become ever increasing.

Kyari said, “We are in a time of great changes, economies are in constant flux, Nations are enacting new laws and policies, researchers are making novel discoveries, the world is adjusting to the imperatives of energy efficiency, and energy producers are constantly seeking for ways to guarantee uninterrupted availability of affordable energy to support growing global demands, without compromising the environment, or undermining the principles of sustainable business growth and profitability.

“The goal is to achieve a critical balance, to guarantee energy sufficiency to help nations achieve sustainable prosperity, and for sustainable prosperity to help nations to achieve energy sufficiency in a socially acceptable way.

“This may sound simple! But the conditions underlaying the achievement of this lofty goal are far more complex, wide-ranging, dynamic, and unpredictable, that many nations got stuck, and never cross energy poverty line, with negative consequences on disposable income, unemployment, declining productivity, social order and wobbling national security and stability.

“Energy is indeed everything! It is a key concern for poor rural communities that trek long-distances to gather biomass for domestic cooking, as well as advanced societies, that rely on multiple sources of energy to satisfy domestic, transportation, and industrial needs.

“It is therefore clear, that when it comes to energy security, there is no one global formula, every country has its own peculiarities and challenges. Our approach to sustainable Energy Security must therefore match our resources, peculiar developmental needs, and challenges.

“Nigeria has the largest and fastest growing population in Africa. From 60Milion in the 1970s to over 200Million in 2023. Our current population is more than the combined population of UK, France, and Germany, and according to projections by the United Nations, Nigeria’s population is likely to cross 400 million in the next 25 years, which may surpass that of the United States before 2050(*). This means that Nigeria will become the third most populated country in the world by 2050.

“We have 25 years to go, but only today to plan. This statistic is a reminder to all of us, to remained focussed and deliberate in finding solutions to maintaining sustainable energy security for today and for the subsequent generations of our great-grandchildren, as competition for control of vital resources and the drive for urbanization will become intense, with Nigeria’s energy demand doubling as population and the economic grows.

“We should also expect other unforeseen economic and social forces to also challenge our governance philosophy, and likely overwhelm our collective capacity to support future development aspirations of our nation.”

In keeping with its energy security mandate, Kyari said the NNPC has built refineries situated in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna to refine crude oil to petroleum products.