By Bode Gbadebo, Abuja
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has declared that crude oil production of three million barrels per day was achievable for Nigeria if the menaces of pipeline vandalism and oil theft could be eliminated.
LEADERSHIP reports that Nigeria currently produces 1.7 million barrels per day, which falls short of its annual budgetary projections.
Speaking at a NNPCL Stakeholders Engagement/Capacity Building for National Assembly Press Corps in Abuja on Saturday, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer (CCCO) of the oil company, Mr Olufemi Soneye, said the three million bpd feat was attainable with support from all concerned stakeholders.
He said already the political will was already being provided by President Bola Tinubu with presidential directives to relevant security agencies to confront the menaces of oil theft and pipeline vandalism, which according to the NNPC spokesman, led to the increase in daily oil production from 1.4 million to 1.7 million barrels per day.
“Three million-barrel oil production per day is achievable in Nigeria if all the stakeholders work in snergy for that purpose from the security agencies – both government and privately owned – to oil companies and host communities.
“With expected synergy from all the relevant stakeholders on war against oil theft and pipeline vandalism, required enabling environment would be in place for optimal oil production to the volume of 2.5 to 3 million barrels per day,” Soneye stated.
He earlier lamented that at a point, oil production went down to 900,000 barrels per day in the country before the involvement of private security agencies and renewed efforts of the nation’s Armed Forces to fight economic saboteurs.
“At that time, we felt Nigeria was in trouble as far as oil theft was concerned, but the intensity of war against it has allayed our fears,” he noted.
Earlier, in a presentation on the menace of crude oil theft and its impact on Nigeria’s economy by the Deputy Manager, NNPCL Command and Control Centre, Murtala Muhammad, he said the challenge remained a serious concern.
According to him, over 8,000 illegal refineries and 5,800 illegal oil pipeline connections were detected and destroyed within the last six months.
He identified Bayelsa, Rivers, Imo, Abia, among others, to be hotspots of crude oil theft.
