On Monday (20 February 2023), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited reported that the country’s oil production had increased to 1.6 million barrels per day, falling just a few million barrels short of the 1.8 million barrels per day quota that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had allotted to Nigeria.
At a gathering of industry stakeholders called to discuss the problems with crude oil theft and losses affecting the oil and gas sector, NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive, Mele Kyari, disclosed this.
He added that the implementation of technology, together with the rectangle security strategy made up of NNPCL and partners, regulators, government security agencies, and host communities, insured the output would increase from its level in July 2022 to the current 1.67 million barrels per day.
At the occasion, which was presided over by Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Kyari said the implementation of the Detect, Deter, Destroy, and Recover strategy had paid off. Kyari was represented at the event by Bala Wunti, Head, Upstream Investment, NNPCL.
The creation of the Central Command and Control Center for efficient monitoring and coordination, the launch of the Whistle-Blowers Portal and the Crude Oil Validation Portal, the use of surveillance tools in the battle against oil theft and vandalism, and other tactics were also implemented.
He claimed that bringing in the previously isolated private security contractors from the host communities had been a crucial part of the relationship.
According to Kyari, the security contractors’ comprehensive understanding of the environment and the criminals’ methods had resulted in a number of significant discoveries of unlawful connections and the interception of vessels transporting stolen crude oil.
Kyari said with the current sustained efforts, facilities that have been shut down have reopened, and injection of crude oil into major trunklines for evacuation to the terminals was being ramped up.
Ref: punchng
