Two Pipelines Vandalised 42 Times In 2017 – NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has revealed that two pipelines have been vandalised 42 times in 2017.

The group managing director, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, who made this known while delivering a keynote address at the maiden edition of the Nigerian International Pipeline Technology and Security Conference (NIPITECS 2017) in Abuja on Wednesday, said the two pipelines affected are Trans Forcados pipeline and Trans Niger Pipeline.

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The Trans Forcados pipeline was vandalised 15 times while the Trans Niger pipeline has been hit 27 times, Baru said.

According to him, an average of 700,000 barrels of crude oil was deferred in 2016, which made production drop to 1.3 million barrels per day.

“The foregoing summarizes the effect of pipeline vandalism and therefore underscores the importance of protecting our pipeline system and treating them as national assets,” Baru said.

“On the strength of that, we must endeavor to carry out a systematic diagnosis and proffer workable, practicable and actionable solutions that will guarantee sustainability of pipeline infrastructure,” he added.

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The NNPC GMD however assured that the corporation has begun to take measures to mitigate pipeline vandalism.

Some of the measures he listed were horizontal directional drilling (HDD) technology to bury pipelines deeper to prevent easy accessibility; technology-based pipeline surveillance mechanism with the capability to detect, alert and deny access; and aerial monitoring and marine patrols by the military joint tax force (JTF).

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