₦2.3 trillion oil revenue lost in 12 months due to oil theft - IOC

The data which took into consideration, production losses incurred from March 2022 to March 2023 revealed that the total loss was due to a shortage in production of about 65,700,000 barrels.

Between the period in review - March 2022 to March 2023, the average price of Brent crude was pegged at about $83 per barrel thus translating to a loss of about ₦2.3 trillion worth of crude oil.

Oil theft, for years, has been the bane of the Nigerian oil industry as the country has had a repeated woeful outing as long as oil production is concerned.

Nigeria has also struggled to meet up with the production quota set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, (OPEC) due to oil theft-related difficulties most of the IOCs experience during operations.

While speaking at the just concluded Nigerian International Energy Summit held in Abuja, the Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Dr. Osagie Okubor also reported that the Trans-Niger Pipeline, TNP which has a daily production output volume of 180,000 barrels per day had remained shut for more than one year due to the massive crude oil theft on the pipeline.

Speaking further, he also revealed that 460 illegal connections were discovered and removed from the TNP line which he said, was very critical for continued domestic power generation and liquefied gas exports as it was part of the gas liquids evacuation infrastructure.

The continuous shutdown of the TNP therefore, had enormously affected the supply of gas to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas.

Okunbor therefore sent a word of advice to the incoming administration which was to prioritise the security of oil infrastructure.

“So, if you ask me what the number one issue has to be for the incoming administration, it has to be the security of oil and gas infrastructure. If you don’t fix it, then we have a huge problem on our hands,” Okunbor said.